


Danganronpa: Infinite Despair

by The_Snickering_Saboteur



Series: Danganronpa: Infinite Despair Duology [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Character Appearances, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Dangan Ronpa Refrences, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode Spoilers, Fangan Ronpa, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-03-22 19:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 99,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3740461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Snickering_Saboteur/pseuds/The_Snickering_Saboteur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenji Katsuragi thought he was the luckiest man in the world when he found out that he would've been accepted into Hope's Peak Academy, however fate has thrown a wrench in the gears as he finds out that he is confined to the walls of Hope's Peak with nineteen other students who are all placed in a mutual killing game. Now he must uncover the mysteries of the Academy while trying his best to survive among the other members of Class 79 who are a group of outcasts, underdogs and delinquents.</p><p>Who will survive this game of life and death, a game of hope vs. despair?</p><p>*Completed*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Welcome back to Despair Academy!

"Hope's Peak Academy, where only the best of the best can go" a young man said while looking up at the gates.

"Somehow 'I' actually managed to get into Hope's Peak; honestly I guess I was lucky... Still I, Kenji Katsuragi, the guy who's had no luck at all… Is really attending Hope's Peak... Then again my title as the Super High School Level Lucky Student doesn’t say much and it isn’t much of a talent actually… I never really paid any attention to Hope’s Peak Academy before; I just ignored it and went on my way through life… But for me to get accepted to it is a good feeling." Kenji said to himself as he remembered the events leading up to his name being drawn and his acceptation letter to the academy arriving in the mail.

“I remember reading online about all the new students who were accepted, about 20 or more students were accepted for the 79th class of Hope’s Peak Academy. Most people online were surprised that all of the students who were chosen were chosen in a short time frame from the last class, well about five months after Class 78 was chosen. And I’m surprised I get to join those elite students here…” Kenji thought as he opened the gates to the academy and looked around for the others; it was dead silent around the academy so he guessed that he was either very early to the welcoming ceremony or that he was very late to his first day.

“I guess this is it… My high school life is finally gonna take a turn for the best; these next few years are great… I can feel it!”

Opening the doors to the entrance hall, he felt tired the whole room started to spin and he clutched his head it felt like his mind was being torn apart at the seams, he heard the sound of metal scraping with a voice resounding in his ears.

“ _The Vault must never be opened… And yet…_ ”

“ _We did just that…_ ”

After what felt like an eternity of sleep he heard the voices talking around him.

"Oi you think he's-?" Asked a male voice as shuffling was heard coming from the right of him, he had to dreaming, there was no way there was anyone else there with him.

"Of course he isn't dead! He's breathing you idiot!" Said another voice as a pair of footsteps from the left of him walked up beside him.

"Honestly you guys just shake him awake!" replied a female voice this time.

He felt himself being shaken wildly by someone, when he opened his eyes he saw a group of students looking at him some with concern while others were just looking for the sake of it.

"What the... W-Where am I?" Kenji asked the girl who shook him awake, she looked at him and smiled.

"Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy... Well I think it is..." She said with a puzzled tone and looked around.

"No shit this is Hope's Peak Academy, but the metal door is a problem though" said a male student as he pointed towards the door, Kenji looked at the round metal door and the surrounding area around it, and he noticed two mounted guns.

"W-What the hell!? What are those things!?" Kenji said pointing towards the two guns, the same student folded his arms and sighed at Kenji, clearly he was disturbed about the whole wall mounted turrets too.

"Dunno man, seems like some sort of defensive thingy" he replied while Kenji got up and looked around, there were at least 19 students gathered around the room, some were talking to each other while others were attempting to use their phones to call the outside however this seemed to fail for those who tried.

"Aw man no service!" A female student said while flipping her phone shut and putting it back in her pocket, a fairly overweight student also turned on his phone and sighed too.

"Man this isn't good; we won’t be able to call anyone for help at this rate…" He muttered to himself while looking down at the ground.

Another male stood in the middle of group and shouted at everyone "Alright listen up you guys! I propose we all introduce ourselves to the new kid!" The male student shouted, everyone else nodded in agreement and turned towards Kenji.

"Wait... You already know each other!?" Kenji said in a shocked voice, another female student nodded and sighed.

"Well yeah, I mean we are all strangers y'know, so we took the opportunity to introduce ourselves to each other while you were out of it, and besides you were carried to the entrance hall" she replied and Kenji looked confused before he could say anything the female pointed at the overweight student who was looking at his phone earlier and said student waved back at Kenji with a grin.

"So let's get started on introductions!" Someone shouted. Kenji got up and looked around, he walked over to a group of five students who were standing and making small chat amongst each other.

He tapped the nearest girl on the shoulder and introduced himself to her, she smiled and introduced herself too, she had auburn hair, which was in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a school uniform of that seemed to be from one of the other high schools that were around the city namely the uniform of Fortune City High School a high school that was very well known around the area. She was wearing a red ribbon tie, a neck strap with a little charm at the end of it, her pale complexion made her stand out among the rest and she had striking red eyes that seemed to shine with friendliness.

"Oh hello there, I'm Meiko Nakashima" the girl said with a bright smile, Kenji looked surprised to see the famous Meiko Nakashima herself in the flesh.

- _Meiko Nakashima or as she is known as the Super High School Fashion Diva, she started her modelling career in middle school and hoped to be an idol but her beauty made her known as one of most beautiful girls in the country, she even travelled to Europe and won a beauty contest, her only rival is Junko Enoshima: The Super High School Level Fashionista_ -

"You seem surprised Kenji that you'd run into The Super High School Level Fashion Diva!" She added while Kenji's cheeks lightly lit up.

"Heh yeah I am pretty surprised! I thought The Super High School Level Fashion Diva would've been busy with photo shoots and stuff" Kenji replied, but Meiko shook her head and looked right at him.

"Honestly Kenji I think Junko took all my photo shoot sessions since I said I was taking a break at the moment to catch up on life and family time... And more importantly some me time too" Meiko said with another smile spreading across her face.

'I think I should introduce myself to the others...' Kenji thought as he moved onto the next student.

He turned to the male student with boxing gloves and introduced himself; the male student nodded and gave Kenji a cocky grin, this student had short silver, hair pale skin and wears a white band-aid above his right eye. The boy wore a simple dress shirt that was half open with a blue sweater vest over top of it. Kenji noticed that he was also wearing black leather gloves, his pants were just a simple pair of black uniform pants.

"Yo I'm Shinji Morishige. It’s a real pleasure to meet ya dude!" The male student replied.

- _Shinji Morishige or The Super High School Level Boxer is one of the world's best boxer, at a young age he defeated opponents who were much older than him and his win streak is at least 300+ he started boxing in elementary school to stop school yard bullying, his father is a renowned boxer and taught him how to fight, he's only lost one fight and that was to a person who was nicknamed 'The Ogre', whom Shinji vowed to get revenge on and to reclaim his honor_ -

Kenji stood in awe of being in the presence of The Super High School Level Boxer himself, Shinji noticed Kenji’s prolonged gaze and glared at the lucky student. "Hey if you have anything left to say I recommend saying it now..." Shinji said with a tone of annoyance towards Kenji, the male student shook his head and Shinji chuckled and walked away looking back over his shoulder, "Nice to meet you though Kenji"

Kenji quickly recovered from that awkward introduction and turned to the overweight student playing with his handheld system, after about five minutes of standing there he tapped the student's shoulder and introduced himself, Kenji saw that he was wearing a dark grey zip-up hoodie with the Fortune City High School emblem on the left side underneath the logo he has a small patch with a strange crescent like symbol, he also wears his hoodie unzipped, the chubby boy was wearing a simple dress shirt and a red tie. The boy’s hairstyle still kind of resembled a certain heir but hair color is brown.

"Hi'ya! I'm Minato Shirogane. I'm The Super High School Level Gamer! But I’m what you call a ‘gamer’. However you could also say that I’m the start of people’s gaming careers… and also the end of said careers!"

- _Minato Shirogane or known as the Super High School Level Gamer is well known throughout the gaming community, he has expansive knowledge of video games of all kinds and usually tops the leaderboards of every single online game, his username of "r4gn4r0k" is seen plastered over the leaderboards and high scores of both online and arcade games_ -

"Hey your voice sounds familiar y'know! Have we played online before?" Minato said with a huge grin, Kenji gave him a surprised look and smiled when Minato remembered him.

"Yeah I still can't believe you accepted my friend request on PZ3" Kenji replied with a grin, after all Kenji thought that Minato had the memory of a goldfish considering all the games that he plays 24/7… Or so the rumor went that was floating around the internet.

"Of course I would! I always accept those who send me requests... Well most of the time that is, anyways you were pretty good on Sword Fighter IV! We should play another game together one time!" Minato replied shaking Kenji's hand and Minato walked off to talk with the others.

Kenji turned to another female student who was cracking her knuckles and observing the students near her, she had shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. Unlike most of the other girls whose uniform sweaters were various colours, hers was brown. She had a good posture, and a slim, yet long figure. Her eyes are piercing, yet captivating.

"Hey I'm Kaori Suou; you don't need to tell me your name since I already heard you talking to Minato"

- _Kaori Suou is The Super High School Gang Leader, she leads one of the biggest gangs in her old high school called the ‘Dark Wings’, she has crushed other high school gangs I'm her area and has amassed somewhat close to an army of delinquents and outcasts from all over the city, rumor has it that she even crushed the police force in her town. Most Biker Gangs like the Crazy Diamonds leave the Dark Wings alone because of a truce created by the Dark Wing’s previous gang leader and the previous gang leader of the Crazy Diamonds_ -

"So are you that, Kaori Suou?" Kenji asked nervously fearing that she would probably end up smashing his face against the wall if he said the wrong thing, however all she did was nod and gave Kenji a smile.

"Yeah I am, but you shouldn't worry I only beat up those who gets on my nerves, and so far none of you have gotten on them" Kaori shrugged and walked away from Kenji, while he did the same thing and walked in the other direction really fast.

As Kenji walked to put some distance between him and Kaori, he ran into another girl who was writing notes into a little notebook, he introduced himself and she slammed the notebook shut and turned to him with a slightly annoyed look on her face, Kenji saw that like the others she was also wearing a school uniform namely the female uniform of Kisaragi Central High School on the other side of the city, though she was wearing a noticeably longer skirt than the other female students. She has short blue hair that seems to be a carryover from her days as a delinquent.

 "Nice to meet you I guess, I'm Asuka Yoshida, don’t get in the way of my creativity or I swear to god that wall will wear your face!" The girl replied.

- _Asuka Yoshida or The Super High School Level Author is one of the best writers of her age, she was a former gang leader who reformed her ways to become an author, her book series 'Longing for you and longing for the moon' has reached the number one top charts on all sorts of websites and book stores although her own autobiography on her time as a gang leader has gotten some popularity_ -

 "So… What the hell do you want Kenji?" Asuka asked very bluntly as she opened her notebook and began to write furiously inside of it, Kenji looked over her shoulder and he saw that she was writing notes about the third book in her series. Asuka turned around and slammed her notebook shut glaring at him; she quickly walked away to another group of students.

Standing in complete silence Kenji walked the other way to talk to another female student who was away from the group of socializing students, when Kenji introduced himself she looked at him and smiled.

"Hey nice to meet ya, I'm Akira Hohaku" She replied giving a half cocky smirk to Kenji.

- _Akira Hohaku or better known as The Super High School Level Body Modifier is one of the best tattoo artists and piercing specialists in the country, or hell even in the world she won a competition in America last year which earned her a spot in Hope's Peak Academy_ -

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Akira! I must say it’s strange that you are in our class actually” Kenji replied scratching the back of his head, she smiled and nodded at him however like Kaori she cracked her knuckles and grinned at Kenji. He had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well with both Akira and Kaori trapped in the same building, the two parted ways with Kenji going in the other direction away from the both of them.

He eventually bumped into another girl who wore a blue dress adorned with various candies on it; she also had a large blue bow on her head. The girl gave him a pleasant smile and Kenji swore for a moment that she had disappeared from his sight for a second, he held his hand out for her to shake it and she did indeed shake it. “Oh hello there, my name is Sora Kigiri. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

- _Sora Kigiri is the Super High School Level Sweets Connoisseur, her sweets are considered to be one of the best in the country but her unusual demeanour is considered strange by some and this has caused her to gain a few fans apparently_ -

Kenji didn’t know what to say to her in the first place, it was strange that he met the girl that caused his small sweets addiction back in his final year of middle school. The two didn’t say much but the obvious ‘Hello’ or ‘Nice to meet you’ but she left and went to talk to Meiko and Asuka, he recovered from that awkward conversation quickly and moved onto another student who was checking out the girls from afar, the student is a young slender man with short, brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a black business suit with white stripes and matching cap, white collar shirt, white shoes, and black shaded sunglasses.

When the male student saw Kenji looking at him, he turned around and held his hand out similarly to how Kenji held out his hand to Sora. The lucky student held his hand out too and shook the male’s. “Hey, my name is the Eikichi Takeba. I’m the Super High School Level Casanova, baby!”

- _Eikichi Takeba is what he just said, he’s the Super High School Level Casanova and is rumored to have gained a harem of girls by the time he was in middle school. Most guys are extremely jealous of Eikichi’s way of getting all types of girls_.-

“Hmmm interesting… All these girls, the tomboy gang leader, a cute actress and even a fashion diva… I wonder if I could get a chance to score with them?~” Eikichi said with a small chuckle while Kenji rolled his eyes and quickly backed away from Eikichi who walked over to Kaori and tried to hit on her.

However the only reply that he was a punch to the stomach, and in an instant the Casanova fell to the ground, groaning, as nearby students quickly ran away from the scene.

The Lucky Student shook his head while smirking and walked over to another girl who was admiring the trophies in the cabinet, when he approached her, she turned around and smiled at him while holding out a hand which he grabbed and shook just as he did with the others. She had short brown hair; the girl was wearing a beret, and she had green eyes. Her outfit consists of a white dress shirt, a yellow overcoat and small brown boots with thigh high socks.

“Hello there it’s a pleasure to meet you, Kenji Katsuragi… My name is Hikari Shinohara and I’m the Super High School Level Actress!”

- _Hikari Shinohara, or better known as the Super High School Level Actress has starred in so many movies that it’s hard to count how many she had been in, one of her most known movie series is an action series called ‘To die and live hard’ and there were rumors that she even got training from a real spy and martial artist to do the moves shown in the film_.-

“Well then, I never thought that Hikari Shinohara herself would be attending Hope’s Peak Academy…” Kenji replied with a chuckle and she also laughed along with him, it was strange to be in the presence of a famous person like Hikari. But she did seem enjoyable and they made some conversation before she decided to join the other girls in some conversation while stepping over Eikichi who was still lying on the ground and groaning.

Kenji made his way towards another girl who was reading a magazine about fighting, she looked up at him and blew a bubble with her chewing gum and looked back down at the magazine. This girl had blonde hair that looked like it had been dyed and she had blue eyes. She was wearing a Minamoto High School uniform another school that Kenji was familiar with and that had also been the school that his cousin attended a couple months back before transferring to another school. She also wore a red ribbon like Meiko. After a couple moments of silence, she finally spit out her gum and looked up at Kenji and smiled at him.

“Yo, I’m Yukari Morishige… You just talked with my brother a few moments ago; I’m the Super High School Level Martial Artist, it’s a real pleasure to meet you Kenji.”

- _Yukari Morishige is the older twin sister to Shinji Morishge, while Shinji is and expert at boxing. Yukari is a master at martial arts, she learned how to use martial arts from her mother and she has won fighting tournaments from around the country although she was never able to beat one opponent whom is known as ‘The Orge’, like Shinji she desires a rematch against this one opponent_.-

The two of them remained silent until Kenji smiled back and also introduced himself, the two of them also made small talk which was mostly her rambling on about her martial arts moves and even Yukari told Kenji that she was going to show him how to become a martial artist like him, but Kenji politely declined for now and the two of them parted ways, Kenji then walked over to the next student who was about the same weight and size as Minato if not a little more on the larger side, the boy had neck-length black hair that seemed to spike up a bit around the middle and he had amber eyes that seemed welcoming and friendly. He was also wearing a sky blue pullover jacket underneath what appeared to be his school uniform from Minamoto High like Yukari.

When Kenji reached the other larger boy, he smiled and also held out his hand towards Kenji whom promptly grabbed it and shook it just a furiously as Minato did earlier.

“Hi’ya! I’m Matsumoto Kishinuma; I see you were talking to my bro, Minato! Anyways I’m the Super High School Level Otaku! It’s a pleasure to be your acquaintance!”

- _Matsumoto Kishinuma is the Super High School Level Otaku, he’s a huge nerd who has a hard on for all things anime, manga, video games and even figurines. If you give him the title of an anime he will explain the plot in great detail and will leave no loose ends in his explanations_.-

“Hmmm… It seems that a Social Link might be forming between us, Kenji! I do believe that if we continue to speak we might actually forge a bond and that you might be able to fuse a stronger version of your psyche soon!” Matsumoto said with a slight chuckle as Kenji nodded and also added his own chuckle with was borderline awkward and also strange how he kept throwing in references that just flew past his head, as Matsu was rambling on about things that even Kenji had a hard time wrapping his head around he and Matsu quickly parted ways when the Otaku noticed that Minato was playing his handheld system and ran over to him pulling out his own handheld.

Kenji ended up bumping into a girl who was staring rather intensely at Minato and Matsu, when Kenji followed her gaze it seemed like she was intensely staring at the former while ignoring the latter all together. Kenji then waved his hand in front of her face and she snapped out of her revere, she looked at him and gave him a small smile. He got a better look at her and saw that she was wearing a Gothic Lolita-style outfit, consisting of a white blouse with a Peter-Pan collar, a black jacket that includes white ribbon lacing down the sleeves, fastened by a simple ribbon across her chest to show her red tie with a butterfly pattern on it and the waist of her skirt, which is many-tiered and features white lace, She was wearing knee-high stockings trimmed in ladder lace even longer than Hikari’s stockings, red mary janes with a thick heel, a white lace headpiece and a silver, almost weapon-like ring on her index finger. She has black hair in two large twin-drill pigtails, red eyes, gold earrings, and black nail polish and looked rather pale.

She then gave Kenji a slight bow before holding her hand out and he shook it, her eyes seemed to make Kenji uncomfortable but he had a feeling that they were just contacts.

“Hello there, Kenji, I’m delighted to meet you. My name is Celestia Ludenberg.”

\- _Celestia Ludenberg, she’s the Super High school Level Gambler a girl who doesn’t know how to lose... In addition to her love for gothic-lolita clothing, she’s a mysterious high-school girl wrapped in a veil of lies. When she plays a game, she always manages to rob everyone of all their money. There are many scary rumours about how she ruined the lives of many men and women who dared trying to challenge her to a game. Then again, you can’t believe rumors or else they become reality right?_ -

Kenji squinted at her and tilted his head; he found it hard to believe that her name was actually Celestia Ludenberg. “You gotta be kiddin’ right? Who would a name like Celestia Ludenberg in the first place?” He asked but all that Celestia did was place a hand on her chin and smile at the lucky student.

“Why me of course, It is my name. You may call me Celeste if you like.” She replied but Kenji only squinted harder at her and shook his head slightly, but she only giggled at him and turned to look back that the two dorks playing their games.

“Weren’t you supposed to be with the 78th class and not the 79th?” The Lucky Student asked and she nodded and turned her gaze towards him, her red eyes were nothing like Meiko’s which showed some hint of friendliness but all that Kenji got from Celeste was a cold glare that even make him shudder.

“Well you see I obtained a letter saying that I would be transferred to Class 79 instead of 78, so let’s do our best to be friends, Kenji.” And with that she turned her gaze once again towards the two dorks and said no more, the lucky student only raised his eyebrows and walked away from her. However he decided to try and get her name one more time.

“How about you cut the crap and give me your real name?”

However she only looked at him from the corner of her eyes and smiled once more at him, “Heh heh... I’m afraid I can’t give you that. Celestia Ludenberg is the name I go by.”

And with that, Kenji threw up his arms and walked away from their conversation defeated, after leaving Celeste to be herself and watch the others. He bumped into another student who was shaking a red spray paint can and was looking ready to spray the walls with said paint, when Kenji bumped into him. The Boy turned around and grinned at Kenji while holding his hand out towards him and Kenji took it and shook his hand, he had black sideburns, orange eyes, and has two black marks on both cheeks. Like Asuka, he was wearing the school uniform of Kisaragi Central High School with white long sleeves, a simply dress shirt with a red tie, he also wears a yellow beanie, colorful beaded bracelets, and he carried a yellow backpack with spray cans stuffed in it.

“Hey there man, it’s a real pleasure to meet you. My name is Toji Kuzunoha, and I’m the Super High School Level Graffiti Artist!”

- _Toji Kuzunoha is the Super High School Level Graffiti Artist, as a kid he used to tag walls all day while skipping school. He was taught by his mother and father who were artists, how to use spray paint so he used that knowledge to become the mysterious graffiti artist who tags walls during the evening and leave works of art on large blank walls_.-

The two of them made small talk before Toji was called away by Shinji and the two of them were beginning a plan about tagging the wall with Shinji’s help, Kenji chuckled and went his seprate way and ran into a student who was fiddling with his phone, he stood there for a couple minutes before the lucky student finally cleared his throat and the other student looked up at him. Kenji managed to get a good look at him; he had brown eyes and short black hair that is seen under an orange cap with a black clip. The boy also wears a blue hoodie and gray pants and brown shoes. He wears a white wristwatch on his left arm and a blue wristband on his right; he also has a black sling-on bag that hangs from his right shoulder.

“Yo it’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Shoji Suzuhara and I’m the Super High School Level Hacker.”

- _Shoji Suzuhara is exactly what is on the tin, he’s a hacker that has become famous in the online community, and one of his greatest achievements was the disposal and destruction of a nasty virus that he and a certain skirt wearing programmer worked together to get rid of it. He’s also very good at building laptops and computers from scratch_.-

“So… Any luck with finding a connection or anything that’s happening on the outside?” Kenji asked the hacker, but Shoji sighed and shook his head while putting his phone back in his pocket, he placed a hand on his chin and sighed while looking over at the other students.

“Sorry man, no dice… there’s no Wi-Fi or any type of connection that I can connect to, maybe if I were to locate the data room –if there is one- and manipulate it to give me a connection then maybe I could find out what’s happening out there.” The hacker replied and Kenji patted him on the back and wished him luck before going to talk to the remaining four students.

Kenji left Shoji to think about the Wi-Fi and connection problems before running into another student, the same student was talking to another one who only looked away from the two of them and went to talk to Celeste who was standing a three feet away from them, Kenji held out his hand and the boy took it and gave him a firm handshake. Kenji managed to get a good look at the student, who just shook his hand. He has brown eyes, black hair that covers his right eye, and pale skin. Overall, he is extremely groomed: He had thin eyebrows and seemingly wears a very light colored lipstick although it looked like chapstick that was applied too many times, giving him a very androgynous appearance, the student was also wearing the uniform of another school that was near where Kenji used to live, the same uniform of Minamoto High School. He also had a small diamond pendant that was located right above the breast pocket of the uniform jacket.

“Hello there, Kenji Katsuragi. I’m Shinichi Nakamura; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

- _Shinichi Nakamura is the Super High School Level Strategist, he’s known by many military personnel for his unfailing strategies. You can place him into any sort of problem and he will come up with a strategy to help escape or even come up with one that will help a group of people, there’s a rumor going around about him that he had helped some people who were placed in a room and were forced to kill each other however with a strategy, he helped all of them escape without anyone getting injured_.-

“Sooooooo… Come up with a plan to get us outta here?” Asked the lucky student but Shinchi placed a hand on his chin and sighed, he calmly shook his head and even Kenji could tell that he was thinking about a strategy to help them all escape. But he ended up walking away from Kenji as he began muttering to himself about proposed plans until he eventually disappeared into the crowd of students.

Kenji quickly recovered from that conversation and walked over to the same student that Shinichi was talking too, when he reached the student he held out his hand and said student took it and gave it a firm shake, Kenji looked up and got a better look at the student. He had brown hair, brown eyes and very lightly tan skin. He was wearing the Minamoto High School uniform like Yukari but it was the male variant, consisting of a black jacket and black pants adorned with white stripes going horizontally along the jacket, and he wore matching sneakers. Additionally, he wears a white shirt and a red tie.

“I see that you are becoming somewhat known among the students here, my name is Katsuya Ikari… And I’m the Super High School Level Hitman…”

- _Katsuya Ikari is the Super High School Level Hitman, he’s well known as his nickname of ‘The Shadow'. Rumors persist that he assassinated some corrupt officials and even the leader of a rival mob family to the Lowell mob family. Not much is really know about Katsuya as he keeps to himself and stays out of the public eye for the most part_.-

“…If you are going to say something… Say it now…” The Hitman said with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice, however Kenji shook his head and quickly walked the other direction as Katsuya continued his conversation with Celeste, Kenji quickly made his way across the room to where two other students were making some small conversation with each other, the male one noticed Kenji first and held out his hand which Kenji grabbed and shook. Like with the others he got a good look at him, he is had stylish brown hair which parted at the right and brown eyes. He wears a gray school uniform with black chemise collar shirt with blue and white stripe tie, yellow scarf, and yellow shoes.

“Hey man, I’m Takeshi Narukami. And I’m the Super High School Level Doctor!”

- _Takeshi Narukami is the Super High School Level Doctor, at a young age he was able to identify and help cure a disease with his parents and his medical career began from there. He is one of the few requested doctors around the country and he has a waiting list that’s backed up to next year, however he will see the more serious cases first over the minor ones_.-

“Oh sorry I would love to stay and chat but I see that I need to attend to Eikichi… he seems to be rolling around on the floor holding his stomach, if you need any help or if you got injured just make sure to find me alright!” Takeshi shouted as he ran over to Eikichi to help him and to see if he was gravely injured, Kenji then turned his gaze over to the last student that he had to introduce himself too, however as he reached his hand out for her to shake it she did not take it and only looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

Kenji however took a good look at this girl, she had a voluptuous figure, pale and fair skin, long dark black hair covering her left eye, and brown eyes, she was wearing the school uniform of Fortune City High like Minato, Meiko, and Shinji , save for the school’s jacket and a different white blouse with a big red ribbon and black boots.

“…I suppose I should introduce myself to you, my name is Mitsuru Shishido… and it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance…”

- _Mitsuru Shishido is the Super High School Level Heiress, she’s the heir to the massive Shishido Group that works in manufacturing all kinds of machine parts for computers, cars, phones and just about anything. Mostly everyone has heard of the Shishido family and its own brand ‘Shishido Electronics’. Although the Shishido Family is nowhere as influential as the Togami Family, however the Shishido group does have its own place in the market_.-

“So you are really that Mitsuru Shishido?” Kenji asked and she nodded, however as he was about to ask her another question. The Heiress simply walked away from Kenji and didn’t look back at him; Kenji raised his eyebrows as she disappeared into the group of students, after being introduced to all of his classmates. A woman suddenly entered the entrance hall and she looked winded, like she ran a marathon to get to the room.

“Is everyone alright? Nobody is hurt? Oh thank goodness…” The woman said and everyone looked confused at her sudden appearance, she took a deep breath and smiled at the group of student before clearing her throat and nodding. “Alright now that everyone is here, I should probably introduce myself as well… My name is Saeko Yasuhiro, and I was assigned as the overseer of Class 79. It’s a pleasure to meet you all!”

The entire class all introduced themselves to their teacher, and when Kenji had finally introduced himself, he finally got a good look at her appearance. The teacher had long blue hair, tied into a ponytail. She has a yellow coat along with a matching yellow flannel skirt. She wears a white blouse tucked into her skirt along with pantyhose. She was wearing a pair of black loafers.

After finally introducing himself to her, the students all filed out of the entrance hall and into the first floor of the academy, they all looked around the first floor and some even entered the school shop. Kenji decided to sit down on one of the central benches, he started rubbing his temples. It felt like he was hit over the head with a plank of wood, but as Meiko sat down beside him and ear grating voice came through the intercom.

“Would all students please make their way to the gym for the opening ceremony? Thank you.”

Both Kenji and Meiko both looked at each other as Minato and Matsu ran towards them, “Oi! The windows… they have been sealed shut!” They both shouted which resulted in both the Fashion Diva and Lucky Student to give them a look of disbelief, but as they were going to investigate their teacher told them to hurry to the gym instead of wondering away from the group.

When all 19 students and the professor all entered the gym, they looked around and saw that majority of the place looked normal and even someone muttered that they thought a trap would’ve sprung the moment they all walked in the room, the group then stood around the middle of the gym waiting for what felt like an hour or even more until they all heard something or someone laughing, “Upupupu…~” went the voice and everyone turned their gaze towards the stage a teddy bear popped up and landed on the podium.

“It’s a… Stuffed toy…?” Both Minato and Matsu muttered, they both turned towards each other and started laugh harder than ever. “It’s a freaking teddy bear! Are we supposed to be scared of that thing!?” They both howled with laughter as Minato grabbed his stomach and bent over gasping for air while Matsu had his hand on Minato’s shoulder supporting him as he was laughing too hard while he was laughing just as hard as the gamer, Celeste looked back at the two dorks and shook her head.

“I would recommend not laughing at the toy; it could very well kill you if it wanted too.” She said while the two of them laughed harder at her suggestion, the gambler only shook her head once more before ignoring the two of them. Others also started laughing at the bear and even Mitsuru chuckled as well, however in the middle of all the laughter the bear suddenly waved its arms and yelled at the students.

“Hey I’m not a stuffed toy! I’m Monokuma and I’m the headmaster of this school! I’m pleased to meet all of you.”

And with that slight movement, everyone stopped laughing, while both Minato and Matsu both screamed “That stuffed toy just moved!” and held onto each other, everyone else just looked surprised and even Shoji was amazed that a stuffed toy could move.

“I’m not a stuffed toy! Are you all going to act like the last bunch that was here? How many times do I need to tell people that I’m Monokuma and I’m your headmaster!” The bear replied and the students all exchanged looks of worry or just plain confusion, the professor herself looked confused but before she could speak the bear cut her off and looked over the large group of students.

“Now I think we should just cut to the chase… You will all be living here together for the reminder of your life! However if you want to leave there is a requirement of course…”

With those words, the group all had faces of mixed emotions. Most of them seemed pissed or others looked scared while some of them had blank expressions or a mixture of all three, Kaori barged her way to the front of the group and glared up at Monokuma. “What are fucking requirements to leave then!? Don’t leave us hanging here you son of a bitch!” the Gang Leader shouted at the stuffed toy, however Monokuma started laughing and jumped down from the stage and walked over to the group of students some of them backed away from the approaching bear. But Kaori stood her ground and glared down at it, “So what the fuck is it then you piece of bear shit, because I wanna get the fuck outta here!” She shouted once more but Monokuma only laughed at her.

“Upupupu~ If you want to leave… You have to kill each other~” Monokuma replied and most of the student’s expressions changed to the same one, an expression of fear. “You can stab them, hit them with a blunt instrument, burn them to a crisp, crush them and even shoot them to death if you wanted too!”

Kenji looked among the group and saw that Celeste, Shinichi, Katsuya and Mitsuru were all just watching the situation unfold with no hint of fear on their faces, he then looked at the other part of the group and saw that Minato and Matsu also barged their way to the front. “Oi, cut the bullcrap! There’s no way that we are gonna kill each other for you!” Minato shouted as Matsu and a couple of the other students all nodded in agreement with him, but Monokuma glared at the two of them and they both backed away when they saw Monokuma’s eye glow red.

Kaori on the other hand walked up to Monokuma and went into a squatting position and glared at the bear, “You have some nerve spouting a fucking joke like that to us.” She said with a hint of ferocity in her voice, but Monokuma only laughed at her and pointed at her.

“You mean like your joke of a fashion sense? You are just as bad as the guy with the pompadour who said the same thing as you~” And that sent Kaori into a rage, with one arm she lifted Monokuma off the ground and began to throttle him.

“You wanna say that shit again you little shit, I give zero fucks if you are a teddy bear or some remote controlled fucker! I will rip you into tiny shreds!” The gang leader shouted and the entirety of the class fell silent, even Kenji was amazed at how loud and strong Kaori was, he guessed that’s what it must be like to actually see the Super High School Level Gang Leader in her pissed off mode. But he was snapped out that revere when Monokuma suddenly spoke once more.

“Violence against the headmaster is prohibited!” And Monokuma’s eye started glowing; the students all looked at the two of them in confusion until Mitsuru shouted at Kaori.

“Throw him away!” She screamed at the gang leader who only gave her a confused look as the beeping became faster and the flashing began to go faster, “Just do it you idiot!” She shouted once more and with that, Kaori launched Monokuma in the air and punted him to the roof the gym where he exploded. Everyone all gasped and Hikari walked over to Kaori and asked if he was truly dead until he popped up once again on the stage, however in a flash, this time it was both Shinji and Yukari ran up to the stage and with both of their fists extended the twins punched a hole into Monokuma’s chest but once again it started beeping and they both threw Monokuma towards the bleachers where he exploded once again.

"N-No way! That was the Morishige twin's legendary Double Lariat attack! And it had no effect!" Shouted Toji while the rest of the group was dumbfounded by how fast both Shinji and Yukari moved to the stage.

Everyone thought for sure that Monokuma was destroyed by this point however that was not the case as he popped up once again and landed on the stage, but among the confusion, Katsuya appeared from behind Monokuma and stabbed him with his knife. But like the other times he started to beep and Katsuya threw Monokuma in the air where he promptly exploded, the entire class was shocked when he popped up again for the fourth time and Shoji yelled out.

“This is bullshit! Does he have infinite copies or something!?” The Hacker shouted as the hitman jumped down from the stage and growled, the monochrome bear simply cleared his throat and looked out at the nineteen students, Kenji looked over and saw that the four that tried to attack him were all exchanging looks of disbelief that Monokuma indeed had infinite copies, each ready to pop up and antagonize the students if he so wished.

“Alright, I will let you all off with a warning this one time… However, if any of you were to break the school rules I will have no choice but to punish you all, upupupu~”

The entire class remained silent at those words, although Kaori wanted to say something she couldn’t. It was like Monokuma took the fight out of her, when Monokuma saw that they had all given up fighting him, the bear started to laugh at all of them.

“Well then, this concludes our entrance ceremony! But remember…”

“Upupupu… You can’t graduate until you kill someone!”

And with that said, Monokuma disappeared from the stage and everyone remained frozen in their places, no one moved an inch. It was like time itself had stopped around them and they couldn’t move at all, Kenji looked towards the stage and thought to himself.

‘ _It seems that we have all entered a new chapter of our school life… This truly is_ …’

‘ _Infinite Despair_ …’

-Prologue: Welcome back to Despair Academy… End-

 

 


	2. Chapter 1: It all falls apart already... Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Monokuma's announcement, the students of class 79 attempt to adjust to life within Hope's Peak, however death seems to be knocking on their door sooner than expected...

Everyone stood frozen in their places, mostly they looking where Monokuma disappeared a few moments ago. No one dared to move, dared to breathe, dared to do anything, the grim reality had set in. “Upupupu… You can’t graduate until you kill someone!” The voice of Monokuma and his grim message was engraved into their minds.

After what felt like an eternity of silence someone finally broke the terrified silence amongst the students "I-I think we should at least go check the dorms..." Toji said with a mildly terrified tone, everyone looked at him like he was insane.

Minato then spoke up too, "Y'know I get what Toji is getting at, we should check them out in case that fuckin' teddy bear booby trapped the place" Minato piped up, Kaori then turned to him and glared.

"Yeah you just want to push us into one of those traps huh!?" She shouted walking over to him and grabbing Minato by the tie; he glared at her and pushed her away from him.

"If I wanted to kill any of ya I would've done it right now!" He shouted back, they were both at each other's throats until Akira came in between the two students. She pulled Kaori away while Matsumoto pulled Minato away from the screaming Kaori.

Kenji watched as the group broke out in mini arguments over what to do next, every member of Class 79 was bickering. Some were accusing others of trapping them in the school while others were making threats; Kaori had Celes in a headlock as Minato and Matsu were at each other’s throats. Getting annoyed by the group Kenji walked up to the podium and whistled into the microphone, causing everyone to clasp their hands over their ears.

"All right listen up guys! As much as I hate to say it, we need to check out the dormitories... Only then we can look for a way out of here!" he shouted, the class looked at one another and agreed, realizing that Kenji's plan will work instead of fighting with each other. Kaori finally let Celes and apologized however Celes merely walked away from her and didn’t look back as she followed Shinji and Asuka.

The group walked through the empty halls of the academy watching each other's backs in case anything were to pop up, such as Monokuma carrying a machete or even him holding a machine gun. The group neared a doorway down a green coloured hallway they entered it and were welcomed by a sign that read.

' _Welcome to Hotel Despair_ '

The class all spread themselves out; some of them were looking around the area. Either for a way out or to take in the sight, when Kenji walked past the group of girls talking amongst themselves he overheard a bit of their conversation.

"Ugh this entrance hall is bland, we should decorate it!" Sora said as Meiko and Hikari nodded in agreement, both of them started giggling until Asuka walked over; they all turned to her and waited for a response.

"Maybe we should ask Toji if he could graffiti it, he is the Super High School Level Street Artist after all..." She replied as Meiko, Sora and Hikari smiled at Asuka and called Toji over to them.

But before Kenji could listen he heard Matsu's voice echo throughout the entrance hall, quickly turning around to see if he was alright, Kenji noticed both Matsumoto and Minato looking at the entrance to the baths.

"Holy shit they have baths here!" Matsu shouted, Minato nodded and placed his hand on his chin and smiled.

Turning to the other boy, Minato started to chuckle "Ya know what this means don't ya?" He said while Matsu looked at him and nodded also chuckling, "It might be time for the obligatory upcoming hot spring and swimsuit episode!" Kenji groaned and quickly walked away from the gamer and the otaku.

Seeing that the dorms were near-by Kenji walked to the door that had his name on it, he attempted to open the door but noticed that it was locked. He slipped his hand in his pocket and felt a key, taking it out he saw his name engraved on the key's handle.

Putting the key into the lock it opened and he walked into his room, noticing that it looked barren but for a bed, desk and a closet. Feeling a tap on his shoulder he jumped and turned around and to his surprise Celestia walked into his room, “So what do you think Kenji… Those metal shutters are going to be a problem…” The gambler said walking briskly over to one of them and knocking on it. She sighed and turned around facing Kenji and sat on his chair.

“I tired getting into my room and it’s the same sadly… I just can’t believe that we are really trapped in here” She muttered looking at him as Minato and Matsu ran into Kenji’s room, they both looked pretty winded which suggested they ran to his room.

Placing a hand on the doorway, Minato sighed and looked at Kenji and Celeste. “Listen… Ms. Saeko wants us to...” However he was cut off when they all heard screams and banging of metal which was coming from Akira’s room, dropping the conversation they all ran to her room fearing the worse what if she was attacked in broad sight by one of the others. But who could be that stupid to do so?

Running to her room they saw her and Kaori attacking the metal sheets on the windows, Akira ran up to the window carrying a metal pipe and began to attack it mercilessly. Kaori backed up towards the door and took a running start towards it and grabbed the chair that was in the room and hit the sheet with all her strength but it didn’t even leave a dent. Ms. Saeko must have overheard the commotion too; she quickly ran into Akira’s room and stopped them both from doing further damage to the shutters.

“What are you two doing?” She asked as grabbed the chair from Kaori and set it beside her, Kaori growled and turned away from their teacher. She wasn’t pleased that her attempted destruction of the school was disturbed; Akira on the other hand sighed and turned to their teacher.

Placing a hand on the back of her head she only smiled at Ms. Saeko and scratched the back of her head, “We got sick of these shutters and wanted to see if we could break or dent them… I didn’t seem to work however…” Akira replied as she turned around and began to hit the metal sheet with the rusty pip again, Ms. Saeko sighed and grabbed the pipe from her and gave it to Kenji, he looked at it and walked out of the room while the teacher tried to talk some sense into the two girls about the security camera in their rooms.

Seeing Eikichi walking towards them, he handed him the metal pipe and sighed. “Here you can have this for now…” Kenji muttered as he saw the chair being thrown out of Akira’s room and nearly crashing into Hikari and Sora, following the chair was Minato, Celes and Matsu as they all ran out of her room covering their heads. They looked behind them and saw their teacher walk out of the room sighing, she closed the door and the shouts continued as they continued to hit the metal sheet.

“I think we should just wait for them to calm down… Let’s go to the dining hall…”

~ _An hour later_ ~

As the group sat around the dining hall making small chat amongst them, Kenji noticed that Mitsuru was sitting by herself away from the others. Casually walking over to her he started to make small talk with her “Do you think we are getting out of here?” He asked as Mitsuru looked away from him and glared at her student e-handbook. Kenji tried talking to her more but every time she would only nod in agreement or not do anything, that’s when Eikichi walked over and sat on the other side of Mitsuru and tried talking to her too.

“Did anyone tell you that your eyes are amazing?” He asked and she only glared at him, clearly she was annoyed by both their presences, as Eikichi continued to hit on her she finally got up and walked away from them. Watching from afar, Shinji called out to Eikichi and laughed at him.

“So it seems the ‘Super High School Level Casanova’ couldn’t get that one huh?” He shouted as some of the students turn their head to look at Eikichi who only flipped Shinji off as Kenji slunk away from the Casanova and sat beside Minato and Kaori, he watched as Minato was teaching Kaori how to play some fighting game on his PZV. Judging from Kaori’s expression she was enjoying the game as the two were making small talk which Kenji didn’t want to interrupt.

Kenji walked away from them to where Hikari and Sora were standing as they were making plans to decorate the dining hall and the dorm’s entrance hall, “I think this place needs a nice calming shade of blue… What do you think Meiko?” Hikari asked Meiko who was doing her nails and watching the others, turning her head slightly she smiled and nodded.

“We need a color that’s like Sora’s dress… Maybe that wall could be that color or something” Meiko replied doing her nails again as Sora and Hikari went back to talking to each other, however their conversation was cut off when Yukari, Takeshi, and Akira walked into the dining hall and Akira kicked over a chair and growled. Kenji rushed over to her and asked what happened to them.

“You wanna know what happened!? That damn door is just as impossible to damage as the metal sheets!” She shouted as continued to kick the chair, Ms. Seiko cleared her throat and the class looked in her direction and ignored the fuming Akira.

Placing a hand on the table she looked at her students and nodded, “It’s time to go over what we found out so far about this dorm and the school, is there any available exits you guys found?” She asked and pointed at Takeshi and Yukari but they shook their heads and looked away, Takeshi placed a hand on his chin and sighed.

“No… This place is locked up tight, there’s no way out or even in from what me and Yukari saw” He replied with an irritated tone in his voice, Yukari however spoke up and cracked her knuckles. Everyone turned to her since she had an optimistic tone in her voice.

“When I and Takeshi inspected the door I noticed a key hole in that metallic door! Maybe if we all look around for a key we could use that to get out of here!” Yukari said as the students began to talk and one of them shouted ‘We have a way out!’ however Yukari only shot that student’s optimism down when she spoke once again. “No… Monokuma told us that the key is hidden some where’s inside the school and will be very hard to find… Or even worse it doesn’t exist at all…” She muttered as the students fell silent once again.

Shinichi however stood up and looked the group, “I think we should focus on finding this so called ‘key’ after all it shouldn’t hurt if we dedicate these past couple days to finding it” He replied as many of the students nodded and agreed with him, Shinichi then turned to Ms. Saeko and nodded at her. “Then again if it’s ok with you that we spend time getting out of here instead of learning” The Strategist asked as Ms. Saeko nodded towards Shinichi's direction.

“Education can wait; as long as I get my students out of this school safely learning isn’t a priority at this point” She replied as some of the class laughed at the idea of not having any classes, as they were talking the evening bell rung and Monokuma’s face appeared on the screen behind Ms. Saeko.

“Upupupu, it’s 10PM, that means it nightime! So get some sleep and get ready to welcome another day!” Monokuma shouted in a strangely over excited tine that filled the students with anger, Kaori grabbed a cup filled with Cola and threw it at the screen when the bear disappeared. Clenching her fists she stormed out of the dining hall followed by a loud slamming sound, suggesting she stormed into her room.

Katsuya followed her and turned around when he reached the door, “I recommend you all follow Kaori’s example and head to bed, we have a long couple of days or so ahead of us… So do what you will” The hitman said as he left the dining hall followed by Shinichi, Toji, Meiko, and Matsu, so that only half of the class remained. Saying his goodnight to the remaining students in the dining hall, Kenji made his way to his room and lay on his bed.

Glaring at the ceiling and the camera pointed at him, the lucky student covered himself with his blankets and sighed. Were they really doing to get out or will they all end up killing each other? All this was confusing Kenji but someone he managed to drift off to sleep hoping that if he woke up this was all just a horrible nightmare about his anxiety over being accepted into Hope’s Peak.

~ _The next morning_ ~

Kenji was woken to the sounds of loud banging on his door and the morning bell rung, Monokuma then appeared on the screen in his room and laughed his signature ‘Upupupu’ laugh. “Rise and Shine everyone, time to welcome another beautiful day!” The monochrome bear sang with glee as the monitor shut off and Kenji groaned, getting up he walked over to his door and opened it to his surprise he saw Shoji and Hikari waiting for him.

“Hey, Kenji we’re starting our hunt for the key, you wanna come with us?” Shoji asked as Kenji shrugged and followed the hacker and the actress on their hunt for the elusive key that would allow them to escape Hope’s Peak, the three of them searched along with another group made up of Minato, Celestia and Kaori. Of course Kaori got mad and started to violently go through things which resulted in Shoji getting hit in the face with a box since she threw it in his direction after looking in it.

The day passed quickly as another day came and they resumed their search of the first floor of the academy and the dorms, turning over every potted plant, looking through the garbage room, rummaging through the two classrooms on the first floor and even ransacking the gymnasium to find this key. But all their attempts were for naught as the third day sunk into the fourth day where they all resumed the search once again, the fourth day faded into the fifth day. The students were all looking annoyed and tempers were started to flare between the small groups as two students got into a fist fight over a searched area which resulted in Eikichi getting a black eye and Toji spraining his wrist.

The class gathered in the dining hall when Monokuma popped out of nowhere and started the already disgruntled students, clearing his throat he made an announcement in his already ear grating voice. “Hey hey hey hey hey! Why hasn’t anyone killed each other yet?! This is a game of mutual killing you guys!” he shouted as they all groaned and looked away from the bear, Kaori however growled and glared at Monokuma.

“We ain’t killin’ each other if that’s what you want” She shouted at the bear and stood up ready to charge at him, however she was held back by Minato and Akira who dragged her to the other side of the dining hall. Ms. Saeko also stood up and pointed at Monokuma, her eyes flaring with anger at their current situation.

“You honestly think my students will kill each other to please you?! You are insane and they won’t fall for whatever tricks you have up your sleeve! Now as a teacher of Hope’s Peak Academy, I demand you reveal the location of the key!” She shouted as Monokuma only laughed at her and pointed back at the teacher; Ms. Saeko was shocked and only glared at the bear.

Monokuma started to laugh even harder as the rest of the students were looking his direction, most if not half took cover under the tables for fear he was going to blow up on them like the last time when Kaori and Yukari kicked him half-way across the gym. However he stopped laughed and gave them all an order, “In the audio-visual room you will find some DVDs that were made for all of you guys!” He said with a laugh as he disappeared and the students all gave each other worried looks.

The bear had something planned, like usual Kaori was the first to leave for the AV room followed by the rest of the students. When they reached the room she kicked open the door and found the box that contained DVD’s with all their names on it, Kenji took his from her and found a station and entered the DVD into the machine. What was on the DVD shocked him.

- _Booting DVD, Please wait_ -

“ _Kenji Katsuragi, a simple high school student with a dream. What’s that dream you ask? Well his dream is a complicated one indeed! However he wants to become a detective, but sadly his dream will never come true since he trapped inside Hope’s Peak! Will he escape to live his dream? Or will he fall victim to someone else’s greed_?”

“ _See after graduation_!”

Kenji felt his whole body shake, he couldn’t believe it at all. Someone knew he wanted to become a detective but him not being able to live his dream? ‘What bullshit’ Kenji thought to himself. Looking up he saw the other students with horrified looks on their faces, were they also taunted like he was? Or were they all disturbed about the message about them not being able to achieve their dreams because they were trapped.

Hikari on the other hand got up and ran out of the room crying, Kenji only watched as she left and others also left the room visibly disturbed. Kenji stopped Minato and asked him what was on his DVD which only resulted in a pale look from the gamer as walked quickly away from Kenji towards the dorms.

That evening only a handful of students remained in the dining hall as the rest went to their rooms to think about the contents of their DVD’s, they hadn’t seen Hikari all day but they thought that she locked herself into her own room since she seemed to take the whole ordeal the hardest. Feeling himself getting tired, Kenji threw the remaining food on his plate and said goodnight to Minato and Kaori who were distracting themselves with Minato’s PZV. They also said goodnight as Kenji left the dining hall and saw Hikari enter the room where she didn’t say anything to him; she was carrying a basket full of laundry as she went into the kitchen and came out with a can of pop.

Pushing past him she went into the laundry room and locked didn’t come out after all, shrugging it off as laundry night for her. Kenji walked to his room and entered it, sighing he tossed the DVD on the table along with his key and sighed the moment he fell on his bed he was out like a light.

~ _The next morning_ ~

Being woken up by Monokuma’s daily morning message, he gave Monokuma the finger and left his room in a hurry to resume the search for the key with the others. When he entered the dining hall he noticed all the students were gathered together again, walking past a sleeping Eikichi and a wildly chatting Sora and Meiko he sat beside Akira and grabbed a piece of toast and nibbled on it. He had a feeling that something was wrong but couldn’t place his finger on it, that’s when Kaori came into the dining hall and plopped down beside Shoji and Takeshi. Noticing that Minato wasn’t with her, he asked where he was and she shrugged.

“Minato was still sleeping when I left him in his room, but where is Hikari though?” She asked looking around and noticing that besides the still sleeping Minato, the actress was missing from the group. Kenji got up and put his half-finished toast down on a plate, turning around he smiled and said that he would go look for her.

Reaching her room, the lucky student began to knock furiously on her door but there was no answer. Kenji was starting to get worried she was usually the first one to morning breakfasts and other meetings along with Sora and Meiko, backing away from her door he noticed Minato walking towards him scratching his stomach and fixing his tie with his other hand with a large yawn he smiled at Kenji and wished him a good morning.

“Good morning too you as well, Minato… Hey have you seen Hikari? I’m starting to get worried…” Kenji replied looking up at Minato who clearly was still half asleep until it clicked in, walking past the lucky student he sighed and pointed to the laundry room.

“The last time I seen her was in the laundry room with her clothes, let’s check there shall we?” Minato said as he walked up to the door and knocked on it, “Hey Hikari… It’s Minato and Kenji… Would ya mind opening up?” He said and tried opening the door, however it was locked and Minato tried slamming his body into the door but it was no use. It was like she barricaded the door with something heavy.

Kenji walked up to it and began to kick the door, hoping that it would open until he saw Minato back away from the door and get into a running stance. “What are you doing?!” Kenji asked as the gamer chuckled and smirked saying nothing, Minato ran into the door with full strength and it burst open. What greeted them was pitch darkness as Kenji felt around for a light switch Minato got up and noticed that his hand was covered in blood panicking as Kenji found the switch they both found the Hikari’s body.

Hikari’s body was lying face down on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding her, her head was bashed open with a metal pipe, said pipe beside her covered in blood. Her wrists were also bleeding indicating they were slashed with a kitchen knife lodged in her throat.

Kenji backed away from the door with a shocked look on his face as Minato looked as his blood covered hand and back to Meiko’s body, falling back down on his knees he vomited beside her body as Sora ran into the room hoping to see what all the commotion was about only to see the vomiting Minato and Meiko’s body in front of them. Backing away like Kenji, let out a shrill shriek which signalled the other students to run to the laundry room, seeing the sight in front of them they all started to panic. Someone actually killed some else, pushing through the crowd Kaori and Celeste both rushed to Minato and helped him up as Takeshi ran over to Hikari’s body and groaned.

Carefully flipping over Hikari’s body they saw that she had several stab wounds to the abdomen which caused Minato to vomit again seeing the blood covered front side of Hiakri. That’s when the announcement came on.

“Attention Students, it seems that a body has been discovered! So now you all will receive a copy of the Monokuma File! You have an hour or two to gather all the evidence you need to help you all in your first Class Trial! Happy hunting you guys! Upupupupupu~” Monokuma said happily as all the students looked at each other as Monokuma was laughing, they had no choice at this point. It was either find Hikari’s killer or let them kill another one of them.

The game of Mutual killing had finally begun…


	3. Chapter 1: It all falls apart already... Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the first murder has been committed... Will the surviving members of Class 79 be able to find enough evidence and will they have the guts to convict one of their own?

The students all looked at the corpse of Hikari as Monokuma made his body announcement, no one could believe it that someone would actually kill another student. Looking down at his student handbook he noticed that new tab popped up on the screen, swiping his finger across the screen of the E-Handbook the Monokuma File opened and it described Hikari’s murder and her corpse.

**Monokuma File #1** :

  * The Victim was Hikari Shinohara 
  * The Time of death was around 3:16 AM The body was found in the laundry room at 10:55 AM 
  * Cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen and blunt force trauma to the head with a metal pipe.
  * Other than that, her wrists were slashed open and a knife was in her throat.



~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 1** ~  
~ **Truth Bulled Obtained: Hikari’s Autopsy** ~

- **Investigation Time** -

Kenji skimmed over the Monokuma File a couple of times before looking back up at his classmates, they all were visibly disturbed so much that most of them had already left to calm themselves down, Shinji recommended that him, Yukari and Katsuya should be the bodyguards of the crime scene in case anyone came to disturb or try to attack Takeshi during his autopsy, which the others agreed on letting them do, however the hitman left for a minute to grab something from his room. Takeshi on the other hand was also looking over the Monokuma File and sighed getting up he pulled out rubber gloves from his pocket and put them on, he picked up the Metal Pipe and inspected it. Noticing that Kenji was still in the room with him he beckoned him over and held the pipe out in front of him.

“This pipe has scuff marks on it… Looks like it was used as a weapon to defend from something else” Takeshi said putting the pipe to his face and inspecting the slash markings on the pipe, Kenji however bent down and looked at the knife that was lodged into Hikari’s neck and noticed that the exposed part of the blade was chipped, motioning to Takeshi about the blade he placed a hand on her chin and moved her head slightly to get a better look at the knife however when he did that a bit of blood squirted out and they heard a retching sound coming from the doorway and noticed that Minato was still with Kaori and Celeste.

Kaori sighed and tugged at his arm and pulled him out of the laundry room with Celeste, turning around she called out to Kenji. “Hey we’re just gonna take Minato to the dining hall to calm him down! Come here when you are done investigating the body, I saw Hikari acting strange when I saw her last night you got that Kenji!” Kaori shouted as his sighed and shook his head, turning around he saw Takeshi said a small prayer before pulling the knife out of HIkari’s neck, Placing the knife’s blade onto one of the gashes on the pipe and saw that it fit the gash.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Metal Pipe Gashes** ~

Kenji looked at the blood covered knife and the pipe and realized something, “Who ever had the pipe defended themselves from the knife attack… Does that mean that Hikari used the pipe to defend herself?” Kenji muttered as Takeshi nodded and placed both of the objects on the table behind him. Bending down beside her corpse the doctor began to make his own autopsy on her corpse, however he only went over what the Monokuma File said but with more detail. Standing up, Kenji began to investigate the room until Shinji called out to him.

“Yo man! How about this strange bunched up piece of paper?” Shinji shouted as he tossed it to him, catching the paper he unwrinkled it and saw that it was a note, however most of the words seemed to be eligible or were smudged.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Mysterious Note** ~

Walking out of the room he was trying to make out the words until he bumped into Katsuya who glared at Kenji, backing away from the hitman he realized that he should start talking to the other students if they noticed anything funny last night with Hikari or anyone else.

“Hey Katsuya… Did you notice anything strange with Hikari last night? Like anything at all?” He asked and the hitman turned around, placing a hand on his chin in thought he nodded slightly and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Sighing he once again glared at Kenji and looked back towards the laundry room, “Yes I noticed that she wasn’t her annoying and cheery self … In fact she seemed dead to the world during dinner last night, it was like she was planning on doing something… I recommend talking to the others, they might have more to tell you than I do” Katsuya said as he walked away from Kenji and stood outside the laundry room door with Shinji and Yukari.

Deciding to do what Katsuya recommended he walked towards the dining hall where he remembered that Kaori said to meet him after he was done with investigating the laundry room; making his way over to the dining room he noticed that majority of the students were huddled into their own groups talking about what happened. Seeing Minato with Celeste as she tried to calm him down from before, walking over towards them he grabbed a chair and sat down beside them as Celeste was rubbing Minato’s back with her left arm.

“Oh hello Kenji, have you found anything important?” The Gambler asked and he nodded, explaining the details of the case so far to she was surprised that he came up with such a theory of defending herself with the pipe. However Kenji remembered that Minato was in the dining hall around the time that Hikari came in last night.

“Hey Minato, you saw Hikari right? Did she come back at all?” he asked as Minato looked up at him and weakly nodded, looking back down at his hands Kenji noticed that there were still specks of blood on his hand however he sighed and looked back up at his fellow student.

Placing both hands in front of him, Minato recounted the events after Kenji left the dining hall for the evening “Me and Kaori were here till about 2:15… At 1:55, Hikari came in here again with her laundry basket and asked me if I had a note pad and pencil on me so I gave her my notepad and pen and she jotted down some sort of note and she tore off the front page, she then tossed it back to me and left the room… I-If you don’t believe me then go ask Kaori, she’s in the kitchen grabbing drinks for us.” Minato replied looking at Kenji dead in the eyes.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s Testimony** ~   
~ **Truth Bullet Updated: Hikari’s Mysterious Note** ~

Nodding at Minato he got up and started to walk towards the kitchen however Minato called out to him. “Sorry for wreckin’ the crime scene… I get real queasy when it comes to blood and gore… That’s why I could never really last through a horror game, because I would end up upchucking everything…” Minato said as Kenji chuckled and entered the Kitchen where he saw Kaori filling up a water bottle.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s Weak Stomach** ~

Walking up beside her, Kaori greeted Kenji and closed the lid of the water bottle and sighed, turning fully around she handed him one of the water bottles and gave him a small smile “Hey Kenji! How can I help you?” She asked and the lucky student began to explain what he had so far to her, including Minato’s testimony about seeing Hikari last night. Listening to what he was saying, she looked towards the left wall and snapped her fingers and pointed to the knife rack.

“I know about the whole knife thing, but I just noticed that one of the kitchen knives is missing…” Kaori said walking over to the rack and noticing that one of the knives were indeed gone; Kenji was surprised and thought to himself. Who could’ve taken the knife from the kitchen, was it the culprit or someone else.

“Kaori… Did someone else come in here besides Hikari last night?” Kenji asked turning to her as Kaori shook her head and placed her hands on her hips, her jaw dropped like she had a sudden realization. Seeing this Kenji asked her what was wrong only for her to mutter out.

“I think that Hikari was the one who took the knife last night… And hid it in her laundry basket” Kenji looked shocked at the sudden realization, it could’ve only been Hikari who took the knife last night what was she going to use it for? To defend herself or did she have something far more sinister in mind?

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Knife** ~   
~ **Truth Bullet Updated: Metal Pipe Gashes** ~

Kenji sighed and tried to piece together what he had collected so far, it seemed that Hikari had taken the knife and hid it in her laundry basket. Turning to Kaori she picked up the water bottles and looked away from Kenji, “I… I don’t know what the hell is going on but if I find out who killed Hikari… I WILL PERSONALLY KILL THEM MYSELF!” She shouted and Kenji clasped his hands over his ears, she then promptly left where he heard something being thrown and guess that Kaori threw the water bottle at either a wall or at one of the other students.

Groaning and leaning on the counter the lucky student was stumped about what to investigate next, sighing again he kicked the garbage can in anger and saw something covered in blood inside of the can. Pulling it out he noticed that it was a green school blazer, Kenji looked it over and noticed that the name tag was ripped clean off the blazer it only left him with three suspects at this point. Either it was Minato, Takeshi or Eikichi, as much as Kenji would hate to think it he was leaning more towards Minato as the prime suspect since he was in the Dining hall around the time that Hikari was killed.

Thinking about the three suspects and holding the blood covered blazer his name was suddenly shouted by someone from the laundry room, “KENJI! GET YOUR ASS HERE QUICK!” Someone shouted but Kenji guessed it was Shinji by the next person who told him to go get him instead of yelling, fearing that someone else was killed he ran past the gathered students in the dining hall even knocking Toji over in the process while clutching the blazer in his right hand. The moment that he entered the laundry room he saw that Takeshi was holding up a blood covered blue blouse that looked like it was smeared with blood, the doctor then placed it on the table and opened the article of clothing carefully however Kaori herself ran into the room when she heard Kenji’s name being called along with a couple other students.

When Kaori saw the blouse she went pale and pushed passed Katsuya and grabbed it from the table, “No fucking way… T-This is mine! How could it be covered in blood…? I gave it to Hikari to wash for me since she said she would do it… Oh god…” She muttered as Toji and Matsu both backed away from her and Sora ran away from the group of students. Everyone now had their suspicions placed on Kaori however Shinichi noticed the green blazer that Kenji was holding and grabbed it from him and placed it on the table where Kaori’s bloody blouse had been and Shinji shouted once more when he saw it.

“T-That has to be Minato’s, Takeshi’s or hell maybe Eikichi’s blazer! That’s the only reason y’know!” He shouted but Takeshi shook his head and looked at Eikichi who frantically shook his head with a panicked looked, however Shinichi glared at him and turned to Kaori who tossed the bloody shirt at Takeshi and backed away from them. Akira saw this and asked if she was ok which Kaori nodded and walked out of the laundry room with Akira, Kenji on the other hand looked at the bloody shirt and back to Hikari’s body and noticed that there were smear marks beside her corpse that looked like someone tried to clean the blood up and looking at the blouse it also looked like someone used it to try and clean up the mess they made.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Blood Covered Green Blazer** ~   
~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Kaori’s Blood Covered Blouse** ~   
~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Blood Smears by Hikari’s Body** ~

Kenji looked around as all the students began to gossip amongst each other, however as everyone was throwing around their theories about who killed Hikari but most agreed that it was Minato and Kaori who must have killed her while they all were sleeping. Even some of them said that Akira must have helped them too, but Kenji didn’t believe them there must be something else that must be missing or someone else who was their murderer. Looking at the blazer he noticed that it was way too small to fit on Minato since his blazer looked to be about 2XL and not this one which looked like a size large.

~ **Truth Bullet Obtained: Blazer Size** ~

* **Ding dong bing~** *

As Kenji was thinking over the evidence he saw Monokuma appear on the screen and laugh at the students, “Upupupu~ alright I hope you gathered all your evidence since the Class Trials will begin immediately! Please make your way to the big red doors on the first floor, see you all there!” He said in a happy tone of voice that was grating to all their ears, Kenji looked around and noticed that all the students started to make their way to the doors. Looking down at Hikari’s body he sighed and grabbed her hand.

“I promise I will bring your killer to justice, Hikari Shinohara… I swear on my life I will get everyone out for you…” He muttered as Meiko walked in and also looked down at Kenji holding Hikari’s hand, she put a hand on his shoulder where he got up and gave her a small smile before leaving the laundry room and shutting the door. Meiko rushed ahead of him to reach the others and tell them that he was coming too, when he reached the doors he grabbed the handle and noticed that everyone was standing there looking at the elevator doors that were in front of them.

Looking around he saw that everyone was looking worried, Minato turned and weakly muttered to Kaori, “I think I’m gonna puke again…” where she sighed and patted his back while the others just glared at them and Akira, Kaori and Celes walked ahead of everyone with Minato and everyone followed them making sure to keep their distance, Kenji looked down at his feet and thought of Hikari, how she smiled and tried her best to keep everyone happy and to have the cut short pissed him off so much that he bolted onto the elevator with everyone and slammed his hand on the button that brought them to the court room.

Thinking about their current situation he growled and closed his eyes and muttered to himself:

“ _A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own… This is a game of life and death! Let’s end this trial_ ”

Next Chapter: Chapter 1, Part 3: It all falls apart already...

 


	4. Chapter 1: It all falls apart already... Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Kenji has found all his evidence, the class prepares themselves for their first class trial. Will they all have the conviction to pin the crime on one of their own? Or will the entire class become victims themselves?

Everyone was shaking, just the thought that the killer was with them in the elevator put everyone on edge. Looking at Meiko she was only looking at the doors waiting for them to open but as he was about to look at Sora and Akira the elevator stopped and the doors opened revealing a large court room in front of them, Kenji took the first step and walked out of the elevator where they saw the courtroom set up.

There were 20 spots that were placed in a circle with stands that mimicked a real court room, everyone hesitantly stepped out of the elevator and took their spots at the stand, and Kenji looked beside him and saw that Minato and Kaori were beside him to his right while to his left stood Meiko and Asuka. In front of him there was an empty spot that was beside both Mitsuru and Professor Saeko, Mitsuru noticed this and turned around and glared at Monokuma who was sitting in a large chair.

“How come there are 20 spots and 19 of us in total… Is there another person here or no?” She asked but Monokuma only shrugged off her comment.

“This court room can hold 20 people so it’s obvious that one missing person isn’t going to hurt our class trial upupupu~” He replied as Mitsuru turned around and looked down at the stand in front of her, Kenji noticed that she was looking disturbed about something but ignored it when the bear began to speak again. “Alright here are the rules of the class trial! If you can figure out ‘who dunnit’ then the blackened will get executed! However if you fail to expose the blackened you all will get punished instead!”

All the students just gave Monokuma a look of shock, and everyone looked at each other and some even had looks of complete terror on their faces. Eikichi on the other hand shouted at Monokuma which everyone turned their gaze to him, “What do you mean executed!? You mean we can’t just kill someone and be let out just like that!?” he yelled as the bear sighed and shifted in his seat.

“Nope! If it was that easy then everyone would just go on a huge murder frenzy and there would be no order at all!” Monokuma said as Eikichi shook his head and rubbed his forehead, turning around Kenji noticed that Shinichi was still glaring at the Casanova. Kenji just shrugged it off and glared at Monokuma, however the bear only pointed at the group and laughed at them. “Now let’s get this class trial on the road shall we!”

* **Court is in session**!*  
~ **Truth Bullets** :

  1. Monokuma File 1
  2. Hikari Shinohara’s Autopsy 
  3. Metal Pipe
  4. Kitchen Knife 
  5. Metal Pipe Gashes 
  6. Mysterious Note 
  7. Minato’s Testimony 
  8. Minato’s notepad 
  9. Hikari’s Mysterious Activity/Note 
  10. Minato’s Weak Stomach 
  11. Missing Knives 
  12. Kaori’s Testimony 
  13. Blood Covered Green Blazer
  14. Kaori’s Blood covered blouse 
  15. Blood Smears near Hikari’s body 
  16. School Blazer Size



***Non-Stop debate 1***

- **Present your Evidence** -

**Truth bullets available** :

  * Monokuma File 1
  * Metal Pipe 
  * Kitchen Knife



Kaori: How should we start this debate then?

Celestia: How about we talk about the murder weapon? I mean it’s obvious what it should be right?

Minato: “Oh man but what was used to kill her though… There were so many stab wounds…Ugh my poor stomach…”

Shoji: “You guys it should be real obvious!”

Meiko: “ **It was some sort of sharp object right? Judging by her wounds** ”

Kenji: “You’ve got that wrong!” He shouted as he pointed at Meiko which caused her to jump in surprise

* **Fired Truth Bullet: Metal Pipe** *

“Huh... How am I wrong, Kenji?” Meiko replied as Kenji pulled out his e-handbook and held it out in front of him, opening the Monokuma file on his e-handbook he sighed and read out the Monokuma file.

“It said here that she was hit with the blunt object first and even Takeshi can confirm that” He replied as they all turned to Takeshi and he nodded slowly, everyone looked shocked as they looked down at their own versions of the Monokuma file and read it over too.

“Wait! So does that mean that she was hit with the pipe first and stabbed later!?” Toji shouted as Kenji nodded and looked down at the student handbook and sighed, there was something else missing to this puzzle and he had to figure out what is was quickly.

“Yo, Kenji... When you mean that metal pipe… Where did it come from in the first place?” Asuka asked as Kenji placed a hand on his chin in thought, where did the pipe come from at all.

Pick a Choice!

>It came from the kitchen.  
 **> >>I took it from Akira when she was attacking the window on the first day.  
**>It appeared because the murderer summoned it from the void of time and space.

“I can tell you where it came from! It was the same pipe that Akira had when she was attacking the metal shutters on the first day with Kaori, don’t you remember, Akira?” He asked as Akira looked surprised and nodded too.

“Yes of course! That damn metal shutter was really annoying me and Kaori decided to help me to try and break it!” She replied cracking her knuckles as Kaori chuckled too.

“Wait… the means that Akira is the murderer if she had the pipe! Maybe she got it back from Kenji and used it to kill Hikari!” Matsu yelled and Akira looked disgusted at what he said.

“Like I would kill her, we were on good terms even if she was too happy for my tastes…” she replied as Matsu shut up and sighed.

“Then who even had the metal pipe after Kenji took it from Akira then?” Minato asked as he looked around and Kenji closed his eyes in thought.

Pick a Choice!

>I gave Minato the pipe.  
>I gave it back to Akira.   
**> >>I gave it to Eikichi**.

“I gave the pipe to Eikichi so he could put it somewhere that no one would find it! Isn’t that right, Eikichi?” Kenji shouted as he pointed at Eikichi and he looked up and nodded too.

“I put it in the laundry room since I thought it would be in a good place so no one would grab it…” He replied and Takeshi only scoffed at him.

“Yeah nice place to put it you fucking idiot… Anyone could’ve grabbed it y’know!” Takeshi shouted as Eikichi glared at the doctor and looked back down at the stand.

“Now that we figured out what the murder weapon was… Maybe we should work on finding out how the killer knew that Hikari was in the room or even anyone that saw her during the night…” Yukari said and she scratched the back of her head and sighed.

‘ _Yukari is right… We have to find out who even knew she was there or someone who saw her last night_!’ Kenji thought to himself as he got the next evidence ready for their next non-stop debate.

* **Non-stop debate 2** *

- **Present Your Evidence** -

~ **Truth Bullets** :

  * Minato’s Testimony 
  * Missing Knives 
  * Mysterious note.



Eikichi: “Ok who would even know she was in the laundry room in the first place?”

Asuka: “Hell if I know! But the moment I find out who it is…”

Asuka: “I’ll kill ‘em myself!”

Minato: “U-Um would you please calm down, Asuka… You are putting yourself in a horrible situation by saying that y’know…”

Akira: “They must have **been lured there** , like maybe she invited someone in…”

Katsuya: “But she wouldn’t have opened the door for anyone… **She must have opened the door for them** ”

Kenji: “You’ve got that wrong!”

* **Truth Bullet Fired: Mysterious Note** *

- **BREAK**!-

“Now pray tell Kenji… Why do you think that that wrong?” Asked the hitman as he glared at Kenji, the Lucky Student glared back and gave him a cocky grin.

“You realize that Hikari couldn’t have been that stupid right? She didn’t open the door for anyone; she lured the killer into the room with her…” He replied pointing at Katsuya; however all the hitman do was sigh and chuckle at Kenji.

“Heh… What made you think that she lured the killer in with that fucking note? For all we know once of us probably planted it in there to frame someone else.”

Because Katsuya… I have the evidence to support my theory!”

“ **What was the key item that was used to write Hikari’s supposed note…?** ”

~Truth Bullets:

  1. Monokuma File 1
  2. Hikari Shinohara’s Autopsy
  3. Metal Pipe
  4. Kitchen Knife
  5. Metal Pipe Gashes
  6. Mysterious Note
  7. Minato’s Testimony
  8. **_> >> Minato’s notepad_ **
  9. Hikari’s Mysterious Activity/Note
  10. Minato’s Weak Stomach
  11. Missing Knives
  12. Kaori’s Testimony
  13. Blood Covered Green Blazer
  14. Kaori’s Blood covered blouse
  15. Blood Smears near Hikari’s body
  16. School Blazer Size



“Minato’s note pad… That’s the only place where she could’ve gotten the paper from his note pad!” Kenji shouted as he showed the evidence to the others via his E-Handbook.

“Isn’t that right, Minato!?” He added looking at the Gamer who weakly nodded in reply.

“Y-Yeah… She borrowed my notepad and left with it…”

“Only to come back a few minutes later and she handed it back to me… She then returned to the Laundry Room with her basket…”

Katsuya scoffed and folded his arms in defeat, it was clear he was out of ideas however it was Eikichi’s time to butt in with his own accusation.

“HEY! How can we be sure that it wasn’t Minato who killed Hikari!? After all he was in the dining hall around the time that Hikari was killed right? What alibi does he even have!?” Eikichi shouted as Minato gave him a shocked look, Kenji however thought about this and sighed what if Minato was the killer and was hiding it all but there had to be something else to this puzzle.

*Non-Stop Debate 3*

-Present your Evidence-

~Truth Bullets:

  * Minato’s Testimony.
  * Kaori’s Testimony.
  * Monokuma File 1.



Truth Bullet Fusion SET! 

  * Minato & Kaori’s Testimony.



Eikichi: “We know who killed Hikari!”

Eikichi: “It had to have been that fat idiot Minato!”

Minato: “W-What!? No would I never kill Hikari or anyone at all!”

Minato: “I swear on my grandmother’s grave I wouldn’t!”

Celeste: “I’m afraid I have to agree with Eikichi on this one…”

Celeste: “After all… Where’s your alibi, Minato?”

Minato: “I-I-I-I…!”

Asuka: “Come on spit it out already!”

Asuka: “Or I swear to god…”

Asuka: “I’LL BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUTTA YA!”

Minato: “I…”

Eikichi: “See you guys…Minato has **no one to vouch for him at** **all** …”

Kenji: “Hold it right there!”

~ **Truth Bullet Fired: Minato & Kaori’s Testimony**~

- **BREAK**!-

“You are wrong there, Eikichi… Minato did indeed have an alibi.” Kenji shouted as he pointed towards Kaori, “He does have an alibi and that person is Kaori!”

“Well Kaori, is he telling the truth?” Shoji asked and Kaori nodded in reply.

“Both Minato and I were in the dining hall until about 2:15 chatting and stuff…”

“And did you see the victim in that time frame?” Takeshi asked her, she however looked away and nodded. Sighing, Kaori looked up and began to speak again.

“When we saw her… She looked shaken and we asked her what was up and she said that those videos upset her a bit so she was going to do some laundry to keep her mind off things, this was around 1:55.” Kaori paused and sighed, Kenji noticed that she was trying to keep her composure about seeing Hikari in her last hours. “Hikari then asked me if I needed anything to be washed so I gave her my blouse since it was covered in dirt from looking around a closet and… When I went into the kitchen, I noticed that I knife was missing but I just shrugged it off at that moment…”

Everyone fell silent; they all came to the same conclusion that Hikari must have taken the knife from the kitchen but for what purpose. As Kenji was pandering over this, Eikichi suddenly shouted once again at the group.

“Aren’t you all forgetting the fact that Minato killed Hikari!? What if Kaori was his fucking accomplice and they hid the fact that they done it! That’s the only explanation y’know!”

Takeshi only glared at Eikichi and chuckled, “You seem really adamant that they are the culprits in this case, are you hiding something from us? Or do you feel a pang of guilt about something you did?” The Doctor asked but all that Eikichi do was glare and shout even more at his fellow student.

Kenji watched as the all unfolded in front of him, Eikichi was definitely acting strange. The Lucky Student just closed his eyes in thought, did Eikichi really do something during this case but thinking about it that green blazer he was wearing did look familiar to him but as he was thinking about this, Eikichi then turned and shouted at Kenji.

“You know that Minato was the once who killed Hikari right!? After all he’s the only perp here y’know, so let’s just choose him and be done with this class trial!” Eikichi said with a laugh that sounded like it was on the border of insanity, but Kenji knew that Minato wasn’t the one involved because he had the evidence right in front of him. He just had to find out what that evidence was.

~ **Hangman’s Gambit** ~

W__K _T_MA__

“………..That would be…. THIS!”

-WEAK STOMACH-

“HERE’S MY AWNSER!”

- **COMPLETE** -

“That’s it… Minato’s weak stomach! That’s the thing that proves he isn’t the murderer!”

“…Come again…?”

“Minato told me that he has a weak stomach when it comes to blood or gore, he almost instantly vomits at the sight of it!”

“And if I remember, the crime scene was vomit free when Minato and I discovered it!”

“Excellent observation, you really do deserve top marks in my class.” Professor Saeko said with a small chuckle as Kenji sighed and turned towards Eikichi, the Casanova had been backed into a corner however he shouted once again at the Lucky Student.

“What if they had decided to clean it all up!? After all if they both were there they could’ve easily cleaned it all up and covered the vomit smell with air freshener, how about that Kenji?”

Kenji was dumbfounded and didn’t know what to say at this point, however it was Minato who came to his rescue this time.

“Um… One thing to say to that… Uh if I was the one to kill Hikari and this is a big if cause I didn't do it... Then she would be covered in puke since I kinda barf at the sight of blood…”

“GODDAMN IT DUDE THAT’S FUCKING DISGUSTING!” Toji shouted as he pointed at Minato who only sighed and looked away from the rest of the group, Kenji sighed and shook his head in disgust however Minato did have a point. If he really did kill Hikari then he would’ve left some sort of evidence behind but once again Eikichi shouted at him.

“T-Then what about that note you brought up earlier!? There’s no way to read the contents of the letter since it was smudged right? So you can’t read it anyways so there! Case closed let’s pick Minato and Kaori as the killers already!”

Kenji looked down and sighed there was something wrong with what he said and after all he saw this technique before in an old detective story he read as a kid, “Hey Minato, you haven’t used your notepad since Hikari used it have you? Cause if you haven’t maybe you could use that pencil technique that I’ve seen in old movies.”

Minato nodded and pulled out his notepad and pencil and began to lightly scribble on his notepad until his expression dropped and he only muttered out “Oh my god…” Kenji heard his voice and asked what was wrong and Minato just tossed his notepad at Kenji whom looked at the note and read it out loud for everyone to hear.

“ **Dear whoever gets this letter**

**I know that you usually go to the kitchen at this time of night since we have talked around this time and I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something, I’m really overworked and tired about searching the school for the key and maybe you could help with my laundry. I know you can’t resist a request from a beautiful woman such as myself so some help would be greatly welcome~**

**Yours truly: Hikari Shinohara XOXOXOXO** ”

“NO FUCKING WAY!” Toji shouted again as Kenji set the notepad in front of him and looked down at it, Hikari was planning this from the start he couldn’t believe this and looked back up at the surprised students.

“So… She was planning on killing someone right from the very beginning of that evening… But who is this ‘Person who can’t resist a request’?” Mitsuru muttered as Kenji looked at her with a look of shock, she even believed that Hikari was planning on killing someone but to look at this at a different perspective she had to have been anyways. However her comment about this person made Kenji think of one person in particular.

-Select someone- 

  * Kenji Katsuragi.
  * Meiko Nakashima.
  * Minato Shirogane.
  * Kaori Suou.
  * Celestia Ludenberg.
  * Toji Kuzunoha.
  * Shoji Suzuhara.
  * Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  * Shinji Morishige.
  * Yukari Morishige.
  * Shinichi Nakamura.
  * Asuka Yoshida.
  * Katsuya Ikari.
  * Takeshi Narukami. 
  * Hikari Shinohara. 
  * Akira Hohaku.
  * _**> >> [[Eikichi Takeba]]**_. 
  * Mitsuru Shishido. 
  * Seiko Yasuhiro.



“You’re the only one!”

- **Complete** -

“Eikichi… You were the person, whom she was referring to in her letter, aren’t you?”

Eikichi looked shocked and glared daggers at Kenji; however all that he did was chuckle and laugh at Kenji, “What proof that you have that suggests that I’m the one who’s…” However he was cut off by the Lucky Student who only said with his own chuckle.

“Cause you told everyone that you would never turn down a request from a girl no matter what, and the letter explicitly said that this was meant for someone who would never turn down a request!”

“Heh so what if it was meant for me… Besides all you guys need to do is vote for Minato and Kaori and be done with them. That’s all you need to do.” Eikichi said as many of the students looked down at the buttons on the stands, however Kenji only shouted at them to stop and think about the situation before they made it worse for themselves.

“Face it Kenji, there’s no more evidence that you can pin on me. So give it up”

‘ _No… He’s wrong, there’s something else but I just gotta find out what it is_!’

~Nonstop Debate 4~

-Present your Evidence-

~Truth Bullets:

  * Blood Covered Green Blazer.
  * Kaori’s Blood Covered Blouse.
  * Minato’s Notepad.
  * Hikari’s Wounds.



Eikichi: “Are you really going to continue this, Kenji?”

Eikichi: “You know it’s bullshit and there’s no more evidence dude.”

Toji: “Is that true…?”

Toji: “Does that mean we have to vote for Minato and Kaori…?”

Eikichi: “Of course it means that!”

Mitsuru: “I feel there’s something else we are missing here.”

Eikichi: “There’s nothing missing!”

Eikichi: “Kenji has **no Evidence left anyways**!”

Kenji: “No that’s wrong!”

- **Truth Bullet Fired: Blood Covered Green Blazer** -

- **BREAK!!** -

“That’s where you are wrong, Eikichi! I do have something else to pin on you and that’s this green blazer that I found in the kitchen garbage.”

“W-What!? That’s obviously Minato’s blazer!”

“Actually, Eikichi… It can’t be Minato’s since it’s way too small for the guy anyways. Minato has to be at least a 2XL-3XL, this blazer is a XL-1XL and if I remember correctly when you were hitting on Celeste one day you mentioned that your blazer was and XL one!”

“Tch. Well just so you know that isn’t mine anyways! Besides I label all mine with my name so I don’t lose…” However he was cut off again by Kenji who smirked and pointed at the ripped name tag.

“The name tag was ripped clean off the blazer! So face it Eikichi, we finally cornered you so give it up and owe to your mistakes!”

However all that Eikichi did was laugh and glare at Kenji, he then went ballistic shouting that Kenji should just pin the crime on Minato and Kaori but all that Kenji did was sigh and scratch the back of his head.

“I think it’s time to fully explain what happened last night!”

- **Closing Argument** -

Kenji then started to piece together the events of the night before including the events that led up to Hikari’s murder and when they discovered the body.

“All right… The murderer IS YOU!”

“I think we should look at the case from the night before, after everyone went to bed I saw Hikari come into the dining hall where she went into the kitchen and came back out with her laundry basket. About a couple hours pass and she later comes back with her laundry basket and sees Minato and Kaori chatting, she goes back into the kitchen where she grabs the knife and hides it in her laundry basket but stops to talk to the two where she asks Minato if she could use his notepad and she writes down the note and gives it back to him.”

“With her tools ready, Hikari then slipped the note through the door to attract one student where he entered the darkened room only for the lights to turn on and Hikari ambushes them with the kitchen knife. Using her training from one of her action movies she nearly kills the culprit however they gain the upper hand when they pull out the metal pipe and the two clash with the pipe receiving numerous gashes until the killer knocks the knife out of her hand. The killer then advances towards Hikari with the knife but she continues to struggle until he hits her over the head with the metal pipe, hoping to play dead her plan fails and she attempted to fight back once more but the killer would stab her repeatedly.”

“Realizing what he had done and knowing that Minato and Kaori were in the diner, the killer would make it look like they had killed her by slitting her wrists and jabbing the knife in her throat to make it look like it was perpetrated by Kaori and Minato. However realizing that Minato and Kaori left the dining hall they quickly discarded the blazer in the trash and ripped the name tag off and put it in the trash can hoping to pin it on the two, the killer would then return and wipe the blood up with Kaori’s blouse to make it look like that she was the once who stabbed her to death the killer would then discard the rest of their clothes and make it look like the killer was the two. But their plan failed because of the solid alibis that Minato and Kaori had, and that would mean that the killer is…”

“YOU... EIKICHI TAKEBA, THE SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL CASANOVA!”

- **COMPLETE** -

“So Eikichi… Am I correct? You were the one who killed Hikari and tried to pin it on Minato and Kaori…”

Eikichi looked furious and shouted at Kenji, “Where’s your damn proof! All of this shit is just a theory, that’s all anyways!”

“Huh… Dude the evidence is right there!”

- **Panic Time Battle** -

“You have no more evidence regardless!”

“Give it up Kenji, you ain’t no hero by solving her murder!”

“Just pin it on those two and finish it!"

“No I won’t pin it on those two at all! They aren’t in the wrong here!”

-Temp Up!- “They killed her and that’s final!”

“That’s final, that’s final, that’s final, that’s final, and THAT’S FINAL!”

“ **YOU HAVE NO MORE EVIDENCE AND YOU CAN’T SAVE THEM FROM THEIR PUNISHMENT**!”

“Well then... That’s where… You are wrong!”

- **Truth Bullet Fired: School Blazer Size** -

- **BREAK!!** -

“What the!?”

“That’s right, it’s the size of the blazer and it clearly is yours at this point! So give it up Eikichi!”

“I…I…”

- **Class Trial End** -

“Upupupu~ So it seems he’s been cornered! So cast your votes on who will be the blackened, who’s it gonna be!”

- **Voting… Now**!-

[[ _ **Eikichi Takeba has been chosen as the blackened**_ ]]

“Puhuhuhu that’s correct you guys! It was the Super High School Level Casanova, Eikichi Takeba who murdered Hikari Shinohara!”

Everyone looked shocked and those who were standing beside Eikichi quickly backed away from him, those who did thought that Eikichi were going to kill them if they were near him. But all that Kenji did was walk up to him and shake his head in disbelief. “Why… Why did you kill her?”

“It… It was purely self defense… That’s it! It was all self defense!”

“Oh is that so?” Celeste piped up, everyone then turned their heads towards her direction and she looked at Eikichi with a deadpan look on her face. “You realize she chose you because you are easily manipulated at the prospect of staying alone with a woman so she targeted you because of that.”

Eikichi fell silent, he couldn’t argue anymore at this point and the other students noticed that he started to back away from them. Kenji walked forward and once again repeated his question, “Why did you kill Hikari…?” He asked with a flat tone in his voice.

“It was either kill or be killed! So I protected myself in that type of situation… B-Besides… Any of you would’ve done the same thing if you were in my shoes! And I was trying to calm her down too!” Eikichi shouted while the students began to mutter amongst themselves, however Akira shouted back at Eikichi from across the room.

“Like fucking hell we would! Any of us would’ve locked or barricaded her in the room or try and calm her down, but you… You fucking stabbed her repeatedly and that was supposed to calm her down!?” Akira shouted as Meiko looked at her and looked down at her shoes, she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

As Eikichi opened his mouth to yell again at the group, Monokuma then butted in and started to laugh at him. “Alright enough of this pointless banter, I think it’s time for the execution!” The Bear shouted with glee as Eikichi’s mouth dropped and backed away from the students even farther towards the entrance, he was repeatedly muttering ‘no, no, no, no, no, no, no…’ to himself as he let out a scream and bolted to the entrance of the court room and desperately attempted to open the doors to the elevator. Eikichi started to kick the door hoping that it would break open but it was to no avail, the other students were just watching as the Casanova attempted to escape his fate but all that Monokuma did was laugh at the boy.

“I prepared a special punishment for the Super High School Level Casanova, Eikichi Takeba!”

“No… No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! I beg of you let me live!”

“Upupupupu~ it’s Punishment time!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Eikichi screamed out at the top of his lungs, but his cries fell on deaf ears as Monokuma grabbed a small mallet and a button was raised out of the ground which Monokuma hit and words appeared on the small screen.

[[ _Eikichi Takeba was found guilty! Time for the execution to commence..._ ]]

- **Execution** -

Eikichi looked around as all the other students backed away as a chain came out of the wall behind him and clasped around his neck pulling him away from the courtroom, Kenji, Minato and Matsu attempted to grab his feet but the chain was too quick for them, they saw him being dragged down a long dark hallway. The students then ran after Eikichi shouting his name until they saw that he was hooked to a large wheel and clamps came out of it and pinned his ankles and wrists to the wheel.

They then saw four bows and arrows descend from the ceiling and aimed their sights on the student chained to the large wheel and Monokuma appeared with his own small bow and arrow and also aimed his towards Eikichi, they all fell silent as the bows loaded with arrows with sharpened hearts for arrow heads Eikichi saw this and tried to break free from his restraints but it was to no avail.

- ** _Execution: Cupid’s Final Arrow_** -

One bow shot it’s arrow as the wooden wheel began to spin rapidly, another arrow was shot from another bow and then another, and another until they started to rapidly fire towards Eikichi and the wheel began to spin faster and faster until all they saw was a blur with blood shooting away from the wheel until the arrows finally stopped and aimed to Eikichi’s chest which finally ended him as the wheel stopped spinning and they saw the gruesome result of Eikichi’s execution.

His body had been pierced with so many arrows that it was difficult to count how many had hit him, everyone fell silent as one of the arrows clattered to the floor with a loud echo.

- **Execution end** -

“No… No fucking way!” Minato shouted as he fell to his knees and threw up at the sight of Eikichi’s body, Kaori hunched over and rubbed His back and tears started to form in her eyes and she looked away from Eikichi’s body and tended to the sick Minato, the others looked disgusted and some even covered their eyes to avoid seeing the mangled corpse of their friend. Kenji gritted his teeth and turned away from Eikichi’s body and saw that Akira also fell to her knees and had her hand over mouth and shook her head.

“This is one bad fuckin’ nightmare… that’s all this is…” She muttered as Asuka looked down at her and also shook her head slowly, Matsu, Celeste, Takeshi and majority of the students turned their heads away from the scene as Monokuma walked over to the students and bounced up and down to catch their attention.

“Upupupu! That was extreme! A perfect execution I say, don’t you agree, Kenji?” He asked the Lucky Student as Kenji growled and lunged towards Monokuma but Minato who recovered from his small bout of sickness and Matsu held him back from attacking the Bear.

“Are you insane?! He’ll fucking kill you next!” Both of them shouted as Kenji was kicking and screaming for the two largest students to let him go so he could finish Monokuma off, but Shinji and Yukari quickly intervened as well and restrained his legs so he would avoid harming any of the other students and they four of them carried Kenji out of the execution room and the other began to follow them towards the elevator, but Monokuma shouted at Kenji and laughed at him.

“You should be glad they stopped you, or else you would’ve joined Eikichi next and then this story would lose its main character! And we can’t have that Upupupu~” He said in a taunting voice as Kenji shouted back at him.

“I swear to god I will rip all your stuffing out and finish you off for good!” He screamed as they all got on the elevator and the door’s slammed shut, as the elevator started it’s ascent to the main floor all they heard was Monokuma’s laughter follow them to the first floor of the academy. When the elevator stopped all of them silently got off and made their way back to the dorms where the four students that were carrying Kenji let him go and he ran over to the laundry room only to discover that Hikari’s body was missing.

Falling to his knees he shouted and punched the floor with his fist as hard as he could, Meiko then walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder he looked up at her and sighed. She then helped him up as they went into the dining hall where the group held a small memorial service for the two fallen students and they all dispersed to their rooms, no one said a word to anyone and Asuka who was sharing a room with Hikari only sighed as she entered her room and locked it without saying good night to anyone.

As Kenji was about to enter his room he noticed that Minato was walking with both Kaori and Celeste, he didn’t want to say anything but Minato walked over to Kenji and gave him a small smile. “Listen dude… Uh thank you for clearing mine and Kaori’s name… You really saved our skin… Let’s get the hell outta here, for their sake alright… Besides we need to continue our search for the key ok…”

Kenji smiled and nodded, saying good night to the group he closed his door and sighed. Falling face down on his bed he screamed into his pillow and looked up at the camera that was pointed at him, knowing full well that Monokuma was watching him. Sighing he drifted off to sleep repeating to himself that they would get out of there and he would do his best to prevent any further murders.

-Chapter 1:  It all falls apart already... End-

-Surviving Students Remaining-

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane.
  4. Kaori Suou. 
  5. Celestia Ludenberg.
  6. Toji Kuzunoha.
  7. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  8. Shoji Suzuhara.
  9. Shinji Morishige. 
  10. Yukari Morishige.
  11. Asuka Yoshida.
  12. Akira Hohaku. 
  13. Takeshi Narukami.
  14. Shinichi Nakamura.
  15. Katsuya Ikari.
  16. Mitsuru Shishido.



- ** _16/18 Students Remain_** -

-Deceased Students-

  1. Hikari Shinohara.
  2. Eikichi Takeba.




	5. Chapter 2: Of water and Prisons... Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the first trial behind them, Class 79 tries their best to continue on living within the school however with a new floor opened up and more opportunities to look for the key in front of them. Can they all avoid another student being murdered this time around?

Kenji rolled off his bed and groaned, hearing the Monokuma announcement snapped him out of his dream of life before they all were trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy. It was nothing much just a real average home life where he would look babysit his cousins after school, when he got home he would always feed the cat that hung around his house but one day when he got home he got a letter from Hope’s Peak that he was chosen as that years ‘Super High School Level Lucky Student’ however looking back on that title now he wish he declined the title and gave it to someone else who’s more willing to take it. Walking out of his room he bumped into Matsu who said a half tired good morning and rushed ahead of him to the dining hall, Kenji guessed that he was still shaken because of the events that had taken place the day before.

He stopped in his tracks and looked down at his feet, Kenji remembered Eikichi’s execution and how they tried to save him from his execution but it was no use at that point. Kenji felt a sick at the thought that he condemned one of his classmates to death but he had to remind himself that Eikichi’s death allowed them to continue living, as he continued to walk towards the dining hall he ran into Meiko and they started some small talk which later got interrupted by Asuka and a couple other students. When they entered the dining hall the remaining students all sat around chatting about their plans for the day and what areas they should be checking next, their teacher walked into the room and gathered all the students around before getting interrupted by Monokuma who suddenly appeared with his signature irritating laugh.

“Upupupu! Hello everyone I have good news for all of you, I have opened up another part of the academy for you all to explore! And the baths are finally open too for you all to relax!” He said in a jarring voice, however most of the other students mostly ignored the bear that was in their presence but Monokuma mentioned something that caught all their attention in a heartbeat. “You realized I opened the second floor which means more places where you can search for that key you’ve been dying to get!” Monokuma added but the moment he said that the class bolted out of the dining hall and left the bear standing there, trying to get their attention but realized that they all had completely blanked him out at that point and disappeared again.

As the class reached the second floor they all instantly split up and left Kenji standing there, he noticed that Minato, Kaori, Matsu, Celeste and Shinichi entered the weight room and pool area and decided to follow them. Entering the room before the changing rooms he noticed that both the male and female doors were open, deciding not to peek inside the girls one he instantly went inside the boy’s changing room and noticed that Minato, Matsu and Shinichi were looking around the room, walking over to the weights he picked up a rather large dumbbell and swore he saw specks of blood on one of the sides. Realizing that he must be imagining things or maybe the lack of sleep or their stressful situation was causing him to hallucinate, Kenji then overheard Matsu’s and Minato’s conversation, “Man… It feels like someone was killed in here… Don’t you agree you guys?” Matsu said looking around until he opened up one of the lockers where he found a duffel bag with a tracksuit stuffed inside.

Minato rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag from Matsu and looked through it, however he only found a blue tracksuit and stuffed the tracksuit inside of the bag and tossed it back to Matsu. “I bet you anything that whoever owned that blue tracksuit probably got axed or something… Highly doubt it since we are the only ones in this school and this floor was closed off …” Minato replied with a sigh as Matsu threw the duffel bag into the locker and slammed it shut, the group then resumed their search for the key however Kenji noticed that Shinichi left the changing room and entered the swimming area, Minato and Matsu followed close behind where they both started taking off their clothes and ran past both Shinichi and Kenji.

"W-What the hell are you two doing-" Shinichi began but he was cut off by the two boys who jumped into pool in their underwear where they both shouted “Cannonball!” and a large splash soon followed them, Kenji chuckled and watched as the two of them began to swim around in the large pool. Not realizing it he also saw Kaori jump into the pool too where she landed a few meters away from them and they all began to splash each other. Celeste walked out of the girls changing room and sighed while she watched the three students play in the water.

“It’s funny, isn’t it Kenji?” She began and Kenji turned his head to look at the gambler, Celeste then turned her head and looked at her fellow student and gave him a small chuckle. “It’s funny how the deaths of our friends unlocked a swimming pool and a new floor for us to explore… I wonder what lies on the other floors after this one.” Celeste added and Kenji sighed and looked out towards the pool to watch the others, she did have a point what lays on the next few floors for them to find and how would they even gain access to said floors to begin with. However his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Shinichi shout at Kaori with an angry tone in his voice.

He turned around and noticed that Kaori was trying to get him to come into the pool with him but he only turned away and glared at her, “How many times do I need to tell you! I can’t swim at all so just stop trying to get me to join you in the pool!” He shouted but Kaori only made chicken noises and dived under the water, Minato and Matsu began to chuckle as they climbed out of the pool and began to walk over to Celeste and Kenji. The two were laughing and joking with each other which resulted in Minato pushing Matsu back into the pool where he climbed out and picked Minato up and tossed him into the pool resulting in Shinichi getting splashed, growling the Strategist stormed out of the swimming area to change his clothes. He ended up storming past Akira who called out the group of students and they all looked at her.

“Hey you guys! You might wanna make your way to the library; we found something you guys might want to check out!” She shouted at them, realizing that they might’ve found the key Kenji and Celeste ran after her while Minato, Matsu and Kaori were drying themselves off as they attempted to change back into their clothes and chase after the their three fellow students. When the small group made their way to the library they noticed that Yukari and Shinji were tossing books around and were looking through every single crevice in their search for the key, when asking where the others were they only said that they went to check out the bathrooms and the other classrooms that were on this floor. Kenji then asked what was so important and that’s when she pointed to Shoji who was sitting behind a bookshelf, the only noises they heard were the sounds of typing.

Kenji walked over to him and tapped the Hacker on the shoulder where he turned around and smiled at Kenji, “You won’t guess where I found this laptop man!” Shoji said with a smile as Kenji shrugged and looked around, why would he even ask him if he had no idea where he got it in the first place. Shoji sighed and placed the laptop on the desk in front of him and chuckled at the bewildered students. “I found this in a classroom on this floor; it’s heavily encrypted by some sort of firewall… Ah yes of course, it’s the Fujisaki firewall!” He added as he continued to type furiously and a little sprite version of Shoji appeared on the screen and started to chip away at the corners of the screen.

The Lucky Student looked even more confused about what Shoji said, “The Fujisaki Firewall? What’s that anyways? Some sort of a computer virus protection thingy?” Kenji asked and Shoji turned around with a look of pure horror on his face. Kenji thought that Shoji took that question as a form of insult that he didn’t know what the legendary Fujisaki Firewall was; however the hacker sighed and let the program run its course.

“The Fujisaki Firewall was set up by one Chihiro Fujisaki, the Super High School Level Programmer. It’s one of the biggest security systems out there and it’s meant to keep hackers like myself out of certain networks too, I myself tried many times to hack into her systems to gain data for my own decryption software that you see behind me right now but the problem is that it would probably take me a while to crack everything on the laptop…” Shoji muttered and looked at the laptop where the little AI Shoji was still chipping away at the corners of the screen with a little virtual pickaxe, but Kenji placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at the hacker. He reassured Shoji to take his time with the decryption to prevent any loss of data while he smiled back and nodded, “Thanks man… Now if you excuse me I’m going to see if I can find any other computer parts lying around!” He added while grabbing the laptop and leaving the library before anyone else could stop him, the remaining students only watched as he left while Shinji scratched the back of his head and sighed.

“Ok we should split up and look for the key; the others are already going through all the rooms.” The fighter muttered before going back to work on finding the key with Yukari, they noticed that he was looking down about something but they decided to leave him be for now since Shinji was focusing more on their joint objective that he didn’t even continue talking to them. Kenji shook his head and he along with Minato, Kaori, Matsu and Celeste would all be in a group for that day they all left the Library too and began their search in the classrooms where they were greeted by a group that was composed of Meiko, Toji, Asuka, Katsuya and Professor Saeko. The two groups joined together and began a wide sweep of the floor to search for the key; however time quickly passed as their seventh day in the academy ended and they all returned to their dorms.

The eighth day finally arrived and Professor Saeko put them all into groups and instructed the students on where they should search, Kenji was placed in a group with Shinji, Mitsuru, Shinichi and Toji. They were tasked to search the library one more time, when the group reached the library they started to take all the books down from the shelf and toss them into a large pile on one of the many tables that lined the library. After a while three of the five students left to get some drinks from the School Store leaving Kenji alone with Mitsuru, knowing that she kept her distance away from the others he decided to at least make some conversation with the Heiress and to try and get to know her, clearing his throat he noticed that she was reading a black book that was labeled ‘The Murder Cases of Genocider Syo’. Walking over to her he smiled and said hello while Mitsuru looked up from the file and said hello back rather coldly, turning her gaze from him she closed the file and placed it on the table and walked away from Kenji however he followed her and asked what was bothering her but she turned around slightly and gave him a cold stare.

“Kenji… Now listen to me… I don’t hate any of you, it’s just that… You shouldn’t try and get to ‘know’ me; you would be very disappointed if you did… Farewell, Kenji Katsuragi.” She said with an ice cold voice and left the room as the others were coming back, the four guys stood there as Mitsuru walked away from them and didn’t look back. They were asking Kenji what did he do but he explained her reason that she didn’t want to talk to the group, everyone turned towards the stairs and they all had the same thought go through their heads. What did she mean by them ‘not trying to get to know her’ however the thought was still lingering in the back of their heads as they continued their search of the library and the eighth day finally game to an end.

On the ninth day the class was once again divided into groups and were sent to search the second floor, Kenji was placed in a group that consisted of Minato, Celeste, Matsu and Katsuya. The group searched all the classrooms on the second floor however they found nothing of interest in the classrooms, just some crudely drawn pictures of Monokuma doing various things like spreading despair which Katsuya promptly shoved into one of the desks of the classroom and slammed it shut. Turning away from the group he started to search under the podium that was in the front of the room, however the Hitman didn’t see anything of importance and tried to get up however he hit his head on a pipe that was tapped to the underside of the podium the others turned around when they heard a loud clang coming from behind them, Katsuya emerged from behind the podium and looked the group. “Hey are you ok!?” Minato shouted as the group ran over to him, Celeste looked at the wound on the back of his head and noticed that he was bleeding; swaying to one side both Kenji and Matsu caught him and tried to snap him out of his revere.

Regaining his composure the other students noticed that a blank expression was written all over his face, “I… Yes I’m fine… I need to go…” shaking his head Katsuya left the group holding the back of his head possibly to find Takeshi, that day ended on a sour note when Kaori got into a fight with Shinji over one of their search locations which resulted in Kaori putting him into a headlock while both Yukari and Akira tried to get her off before she strangled him to death, two days passed after that and the group didn’t see Katsuya as he barricaded himself into his room after hitting his head on the pipe under the podium. Once again tensions started to flare amongst the group as most of them were getting restless, they had all left the second floor in shambles trying to find the key and were forced by Monokuma to clean it all up to make the school presentable again. When the evening of the eleventh day came around and the students were all talking to each other over some dinner they all heard a loud scream where Meiko came running into the dining hall.

“Everyone come quickly! It’s Kaori and Asuka, they’re fighting in the dorm hallways!” She screamed and everyone dropped what they were doing, running outside of the dining hall they saw that Kaori back flipped away from Asuka and ran towards her and launched off the ground with a flying kick; however Asuka raised her own leg and swung it vertically and kicked Kaori in the stomach sending her flying into the wall beside her. The group was dumbfounded as Asuka cracked her knuckles and stood over the Gang Leader, both Yukari and Shinji forced their through the group and ran over to Kaori along with Minato who helped Kaori up, Shinji and Yukari got into their fighting stances in case Asuka wanted to fight the other students too. But Kaori shoved Minato off of her and also cracked her knuckles.

Glaring at the author she sighed and held her stomach, “Just… Who or what are… You anyways…?” Kaori shouted at Asuka who only sighed and looked away, Minato supported Kaori on his shoulder but that’s when Asuka looked at Kaori and smiled at her. Kaori saw this and a look of shock spread across her face, “No way… You can’t be… Asuka the Annihilator, the previous leader of my gang… The Dark Wings!” She added with a shocked voice, the others began to chatter amongst themselves when they heard Asuka’s ‘Dark Wings’ title, however all that the Author did was nod and smile at Kaori.

“It’s nice to know that the Dark Wings was left in your hands, you really put up a great fight. Maybe you could take on Mondo Oowada like I did when I was in your position.” Asuka replied turning away from the group and returning to her room, Kaori remained dumbfounded as she shook her head and walked towards the dining hall with Minato and Takeshi. The group then dispersed to their rooms after the small burst of excitement, Kenji returned to the dining hall to see Minato and Kaori joking around as Takeshi inspected the spot on Kaori’s stomach where she was kicked, watching the two interact he left them alone and went back to his room.

Later that same evening, Kenji sat up in his bed and inspected his watch it was only 10:30 meaning it was finally nighttime for them. The lucky student shook his head and got up from his bed, he was bored but didn't know what to do since the others could very well be sleeping until he heard Yukari's voice from beyond his door. "Sorry ladies but I'm going to go train with Shinji, I'll gladly soak with you all next time!" She said as he heard running down the hall which suggested that she started to run to the second floor with her brother, when the girls' voices finally quieted down and Kenji left his room only to run into Minato and Matsu.

"Ah if it isn't Kenji!" Matsu announced with a surprised voice, as Kenji was about to ask what they were doing he was cut off by Matsu. "Before you ask we are going to be doing something that you only have once in a lifetime to achieve! And that is... Taking a small peek in the baths~" The otaku replied as Minato nodded as some of the guys were leaving their room and started crowding around the three of them, Kenji saw that almost all of them were there except Katsuya, Shinji, Shinichi and Takeshi who probably had the common sense to ignore the two dorks in their little 'adventure'.

Toji yawned and scratched the back of his head, "Alright so how are we gonna do this, Because if we had Shinichi then maybe we could come up with strategy to help us with this stupid idea of yours!" The Street Artist said with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah I agree with Toji... You realize who is in our class right!?" Shoji began but as Minato was about to butt in he was cut off by the hacker, "We have a gang leader, an ex-gang leader, a scary as hell Gothic Lolita chick and a very scary heiress!" He added and Kenji had to agree, those girls look like they could probably hang them by their balls in the gym if they so desired or worse even kill them.

But Minato rolled his eyes and chuckled at the Hacker, "Oh come on man it's not gonna be that bad, besides I know the girls won't doing anything to us because Monokuma is watching them!" The Gamer replied with a large grin and Matsu also grinned at the small group of guys too, Shoji shook his head and sighed once more, Kenji could tell that he had given up on trying to tell them that this was a bad idea and it looked like he was going to roll with it for now.

"Alright boys! It's time for us to gain some EXP and gain a new level to our manhood!" Both the Otaku and Gamer shouted as the other three students shook their heads and they each questioned themselves why they god themselves coaxed into doing this.

The five students all reached the entrance to the baths and Minato opened the doors to the baths slightly so they all could get a peek, when the steam has cleared they all could hear the girls talking to each other,  "Oh my... Kaori I didn't think yours were that big..." Said Meiko voice as Kaori started laughing awkwardly.

"O-Oh... I honestly never really payed any attention to my chest, since that's the last thing on my mind ahaha... But Celeste's are surprisingly the same size I think..." The gang leader replied as Kenji heard Minato starting to shuffle awkwardly under Matsu's and the other's combined weight which suggested that he was trying to get a better look at Kaori and Celeste, the lucky student rubbed his temples as the girls were all giggling to each other, talking and complementing each other. Turning around he saw that Katsuya and Shinichi had also entered the bathhouse.

"What are you collection of idiots doing?" The Hitman asked with a look of pure disgust on his face, Shinichi also looked very disappointed in the group too.

"I can't believe that you guys would stoop to this level..." The Strategist said with a sigh, as Kenji began to wave his arms in the air trying to explain what he, Shoji and Toji were innocent and that they were dragged into it by Minato and Matsu, however as Shoji and Toji also noticed that the two other students were confronting them as well. Katsuya made the fatal mistake of approaching the boys and pushed past both Kenji and Shoji but ended up knocking Toji into the gamer and otaku that they both fell into the baths with a large crash with towels flying in the air.

When the steam had settled, both Minato and Matsu stood up and shouted at Katsuya, "Oi what the hell are you doing!?" Both of them shouted as Katsuya's face went from disgust to fear in a millisecond as he pointed between them, "What the hell are ya pointin' at!" Minato shouted as him as the other boys who were in the baths entrance also looked shaken but when two hands came out of the steam and pressed down on the shoulders of the two students they both gulped and looked at the hand, everyone saw that the hands had long black painted nails which and Celeste's face came in between their shoulders.

"Ah... Hello boys... I see that you decided to join us for some fun I see, well it's too bad that we are not going to let you swines join in although I do believe that a punishment is in order for these two." She said in an ice cold voice that sent shivers down their spines and the two of them screamed and got out of her iron grip as Kenji looked past them and saw that the girls looked pissed, Asuka growled and threw a plastic stool at them which signaled the others to throw objects at them.

"Hey watch where you are throwing those-" Toji shouted but he was greeted when a basket hit him in a face and he fell backwords, Kenji helped him up quickly as a stool made contact with the back of his head and he fell forward, he heard Minato shouting that they all should escape before it gets worse which everyone agreed too and he felt someone grab him and run as the girls were all shouting at the group.

When they reached the garbage room, Kenji leaned one shoulder on the wall to catch his breath with the others, he couldn't believe that they had been caught but no one wanted to argue with each other and the group quickly dispersed to their rooms to avoid encountering the girls again. The moment that Kenji had entered his room, he fell over on his bed and passed out hoping to hell that it was all a bad dream.

The next morning as the group was sitting around preparing for another day of endless searching, the girls still seemed pissed at their sudden intrusion the night before and even Asuka muttered 'Perverts' when the boys walked into the dining hall, the moment Kenji sat down, the T.V screen turned on and Monokuma appeared on it. “Upupu, this is a special announcement! Would everyone please make their way to the gym for a small meeting! See you all there upupupu!” And the screen turned off, everyone exchanged worried looks while some of the class left for the gym already. Kenji got up and started to leave however Meiko grabbed his arm and gave him a worried look too; giving her a reassuring smile the two made their way to the gym when they reached the gym they noticed that they all were gathered around something.

Walking over to the others he noticed a large arcade machine in front of them, looking around he saw Minato push his way through the crowd and his face instantly lit up with excitement. “N-NO WAY!” He shouted and ran up to the machine and started to inspect it where it booted up and Monokuma jumped out from behind the cabinet and startled the students, however it didn’t startle Minato who was still amazed by the random appearance of an arcade cabinet. Most of them all backed away from Monokuma but Minato didn’t pay attention as he started up the game which flashed the words ‘INSERT ONE MONOCOIN!’ everyone looked confused at the words until Monokuma started speaking to them.

“Upupu how do you like the thing I got all of you? Looks realllllllly fun doesn’t it?” The bear said with a jarring voice which caused some people to groan in annoyance, Kenji looked at Minato who was obsessing over the cabinet that he walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder where the gamer turned around and saw that he was drooling a bit. Kenji backed away a bit and rolled his eyes, natural for Minato to react to a game like this wiping his drool off with his sleeve Minato began to tinker with the cabinet until the words “CLOCK TOWER” appeared above the ‘INSERT ONE MONOCOIN’ words and Minato’s face lit up.

“N… No way! It’s Clock Tower!” He shouted and the others looked at him even more confused, Kenji muttered ‘What the hell is clock tower?’ where Minato spun around and faced Kenji with a looks of pure annoyance on his face. “You ignorant swine! Clock Tower was a video game that was released on September 14th, 1995 for the Super Ninfendo, the game also had various ports on the Playzation, Wanderswan, PC and for the Virtual Console and PZN! The game is considered to be a cult hit for many that later spawned three sequels and a spiritual successor!” He shouted as Kenji put one finger in his ear and apologized that he didn’t know what Clock Tower was, Minato turned to Monokuma and sighed, “I’m sickened that you got your grubby hands or paws on a great classic!” He added but Monokuma chuckled at Minato.

However Shoji walked up the cabinet and turned to Monokuma with a look of pure annoyance. The Bear also turned towards the Hacker and the two had a mini staring contest before he sighed and shrugged, “What’s the deal with this arcade machine? It is your next motive or something?” He asked while Monokuma jumped up and landed on top of the arcade machine, looking down at the remaining students most if not all –excluding Minato who was still fixated on the machine- were exchanging worrying looks or just glaring at Monokuma that he would reveal his newest motive right on the spot, Shoji looked up at Monokuma and crossed his arms and scoffed in disgust. “If you think we are falling for it again then you are mistaken, we aren’t going to fall for this little thing that you have planned.” He added while everyone was murmuring in agreement.

Monokuma laughed at him and raised one hand in front of him, “Of course you guys will! After all this game will reveal the location of the key you all have been searching for… Or it might not! Who knows really, all you guys need to do is play the game!” Monokuma replied while everyone wore looks of pure shock and Toji ran up to the machine where Kenji stopped him and the others from advancing towards Minato and the arcade cabinet.

“Listen I think we should all think of this rationally, Monokuma clearly has something planned for us and this will probably lead to another murder!” Kenji shouted at them, some immediately backed off while others were still trying to get to the machine. Shinichi however got past Kenji and walked up to it where he handed Minato a Monocoin, looking down at his hand Minato nodded and faced the machine. Kenji turned around where he saw Monokuma disappear from behind the cabinet saying “Have fun you guys! UPUPUPU!” but he noticed that Minato inserted the coin and the game began.

All of the students gathered around waiting to see the Super High School Level Gamer’s skills, cracking his knuckles he grabbed the joystick and placed his right hand over the buttons of the cabinet. As the game started the clicking of a clock was heard where it stopped and started to ring with the words C-L-O-C-K T-O-W-E-R appearing with each of the thirteen rings and the words ‘PRESS START’ flashed underneath, pressing start Minato gulped and the game cut the opening cut scene and showed a group of girls standing around a room where Minato was given complete control of one of the girls. Walking around the room he made the character enter one of the other rooms where they all heard a pixelated scream, returning to the room they all saw that the other three girls went missing.

Kenji turned his head and saw that everyone was fixated on the screen; turning back himself to the screen he saw that Minato entered the outside courtyard where they all heard the sound of splashing, making the character dash they saw one of the girls splashing about in the water where the player character ran to the edge of the water and spoke to the other girl. “Shin, hurry please get out of the water!” The dialogue box read as the girl attempted to swim over to the other girl but she only shouted back, “Oh no, I can’t! If only I could swim!” and that’s where a claw extended out of the water and she was dragged under the water, the player character walked over the edge and looked down however Monokuma sprung out of it and attacked the player character with extended claws where she screamed and the words “DEAD END” appeared on the screen, everyone looked visibly disturbed by the game and some just backed away. However Shinichi turned pale and backed away from the machine and the rest of the students.

Kenji looked towards him and saw that he was shaking his head and muttering to himself, walking over towards Shinichi. The Lucky Student asked what was wrong only for the Strategist to run out of the gym with Professor Saeko and Kenji running after him, the remainder of the students all looked at each other in confusion. Catching up to Shinichi they both calmed him down and asked him what was wrong, he only muttered “I… I can’t swim…” He muttered looking away from the two. It was the only time that Shinichi’s calm demeanor was shattered and Professor Saeko patted him on the back and smiled.

“If it makes you feel better, I myself can’t swim either and I really don’t like swimming either. How about the moment we get out of here I ask someone to give you swimming lessons” The Professor said but Shinichi shook his head and smiled at the two of them, after bidding farewell he left the two to return to his room to rest for the remainder of the evening. Watching him leave the others soon appeared behind them and Kenji explained what happened and the others began to chatter amongst themselves, but the professor spoke up and cleared her throat “Alright now that we know that game held no clues at all towards the key I think we should all get some rest and relax for the day.” The group agreed and all went to do their own thing, Kenji decided to return to his room where he fell asleep for the rest of the day.

Waking up the next morning he walked into the dining hall yawning where Meiko tossed him a slice of toast and he began to eat it in the doorway, however Matsu and Minato pushed pass him and knocked his toast on the ground. Glaring at the two of them he bent over to pick it up and realized that Shinichi wasn’t among the group, fearing the worse he ran to the Laundry Room but didn’t see him or find his body. He only saw Kaori, Akira and Asuka doing their laundry and asked if they saw Shinichi. They all shook their heads and he ran back to the group that was gathered in the dining hall, the students all had a look of dread on their faces and dropped whatever they were doing again and started to run around the dorm shouting Shinichi’s name and some even went into the school.

Kenji followed Celeste, Kaori and Takeshi to the second floor while the others searched the rest of the class rooms and the first floor for Shinichi; they decided to check the changing room and pool area. However when they entered the boy’s changing room they saw Shinichi’s clothes laid out on one of the benches with one of the swimsuits gone, sighing with relief that he was in the pool they all opened the pool room door what they saw turned those sighs of relief into deep silence.

They all saw Shinichi’s body floating in the water face down with a small bit of blood coming from his head, walking to the edge of the pool. Kenji saw that there was blood on the edge of the pool and the body announcement played over the intercom “Bing boom pung paw, a body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time a class trial will take place, happy investigating upupupu!” Monokuma shouted through the intercom as the rest of the students appeared and Meiko screamed when she saw Shinichi’s body, Minato groaned and looked away while Takeshi walked over the edge of the pool and looked at Shinichi’s body which was located in the middle of the pool.

“…We need to fetch his body and fast… Who’s going to do it?” He asked while all the students shook their heads and backed away; looking away from Shinichi’s body he couldn’t believe that someone else would commit a murder now that they knew what the consequences were.

 


	6. Chapter 2: Of water and Prisons... Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the second murder had been committed, the group must now gather what evidence there is to try and find out Shinichi's killer or risk getting executed themselves...

Everyone had looks of pure and utter horror on their faces, there was another murder and this time it was Shinichi Nakamura, The Super High School Level Strategist’s was floating face first in the pool of Hope’s Peak Academy. Takeshi gazed out to the middle of the pool and turned to the rest of the students, “We need to retrieve his body, that way I can perform an autopsy before we receive the Monokuma File.” Everyone tensed and some gave worrying looks towards each other, could any of them really bring Shinichi’s body to the shore but Katsuya pushed his way through the group and started to undress himself and jumped into the pool.

Bringing back Shinichi’s body in an instant, Katsuya carefully set Shinichi’s body down on some towels that Minato and Toji laid out for him. The look on Shinichi’s face was a surprisingly calm one like he was expecting to die, his glossy eyes were staring at the group but they were not filled with hate towards them. Kenji couldn’t explain it but his eyes were full of surprise but Katsuya closed his eyes for him and muttered out the words, ‘Rest easy friend…” and they all held a moment of silence for their now deceased friend, but Celeste eventually broke the silence among them.

“Takeshi, would you kindly preform the autopsy before that damn bear shows up?” She asked in a cold voice while Meiko glared at her, walking up to Celeste she grabbed her by the collar of her blouse and shouted in her face.

“How could you be so freaking heartless? We need to mourn once in a while you know!” But all that Celeste did was place a hand on the Fashion Diva’s and smiled at her, Meiko looked surprised and released her grip on Celeste’s tie and disappeared into the crowd of the remaining students.

~Investigation Start~

Kenji was about to call after her but Takeshi released his autopsy to the group, “Alright you guys listen up, I’m gonna make this brief cause Monokuma is gonna pop any second now.” Clearing his throat the others began to listen to his reports, pulling on a pair of white gloves he moved Shinichi’s head slightly and showed them the gash that was on the right side of his head, “There’s blunt force trauma to Shinichi’s head and his lungs are filled with water, which I can guess that he drowned after he was either thrown in the pool or pushed. I’m guessing that he hit his head on something and fell inside the pool, I remember he said he couldn’t swim so whoever killed him must have used that to their advantage.” The Doctor got up and walked over to the side of the pool and saw the same blood spot that Kenji spotted a few moments ago, bending over he inspected it and saw that the blood also smeared on the inside of the pool and into the water.

However as the group were starting to drift away to form their own investigations, Monokuma suddenly popped out of the water and landed beside both Takeshi and Kenji. They both jumped back when they saw him look up at them but Monokuma laughed spoke to the remaining students, “Upupupu! Here I have your- Hey you guys already did the autopsy did you!?” He asked in an irritated voice while some of the students shouted a ‘Hell yeah we did!” The bear sighed and handed out the Monokuma Files to the students before laughing once more and diving into the pool.

Kenji decided just to skim over the Monokuma File this time; the contents of the file were almost the same as Takeshi’s Autopsy but for one little detail…

Monokuma File #2

  * The Victim was Shinichi Nakamura.
  * Estimated time of death was around 2:25 in the morning.
  * The Body was found in the Swimming Pool at 11:04 AM.
  * Cause of Death: Deep gash on the right side of the head, his lungs are also filled with water suggesting that he drowned in the swimming pool.



~Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 2~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Takeshi’s Autopsy~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Gash in Shinichi’s Head~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Water Filled Lungs~

 After reading the Monokuma file over he placed his student handbook back into his pocket and began to look around for more clues and evidence, walking over to the smear of blood on the edge of the pool and looked down at it again. Something about it seemed off to Kenji so he made a mental note to himself, “Better remember this… Seems pretty important…” He muttered to himself and turned away from the bloodstain.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Blood smear on the edge of the pool~

Walking away from it he started to make his way to the bleachers but heard the splashing of water under his feet, that’s when Asuka shouted at him. “Kenji! Watch out, don’t run by the pool side!” and he nodded back in reply then looked back down at the rather long puddle that ran alongside the pool side, getting down on one knee he noticed that the water seemed to have splashed in various directions away from where he was standing. It looked like someone was running away and they ran through the puddle, he decided to make a note of that too.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Puddle beside the pool~

Deciding that the pool area had run its course in his investigation, the Lucky Student decided to investigate the changing room. Entering it, Kenji noticed that nobody was in the room with him so he decided to look around; opening every locker door he found the duffle bag and blue track suit. Ignoring it he tossed it to the side and saw something in the same locker grabbing it, he started to inspect it. The object was Shinichi’s pendant, turning over the golden diamond shaped pendant. Kenji saw that his name was engraved on it with small letters. It was strange because he usually had it on his collar all the time.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Shinichi’s Diamond Pendant~

Picking it up, he placed it on Shinichi’s clothing but something seemed off with them carefully unfolding every piece of clothing he noticed that his shirt was missing, if he could remember correctly. Shinichi always wore a shirt no matter and had everything organized so that he could wear one with his clothing for the day.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Shirt~

Folding up Shinichi’s clothing again and putting them in a neat pile, he turned to exit the locker room when he noticed that one of the medicine balls was missing. Walking over to where they were lined up the middle one was missing, when Kenji and the others were searching the room a day ago he picked it up and it was pretty heavy. Who could’ve picked up something so heavy and run away with it? Deciding to record the missing medicine ball in his note book he looked around for anything else that was out of place, but everything seemed normal to him.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Medicine Ball~

Exiting the Locker room and the locker room entrance, he saw the others running around and trying to gather evidence themselves. Seeing Meiko talking with Yukari and Asuka he called out to her and she turned around. Smiling slightly she walked over to him and looked over his shoulder towards the doors of the locker rooms, “Did you find anything worthwhile in there?” She asked and Kenji nodded. He began to explain what he found after everyone left the pool area and his investigation in the Locker Room, Meiko listened and nodded at Kenji’s explanation before Matsu ran over to them and leaned over gasping for air.

“Hey you guys… M…Minato said he found something strange with that game… You need to see him ASAP…” The Otaku said slumping over from lack of air; both Kenji and Meiko glanced at each other and made their way down the stairs. Entering the gym they were greeted by a group that consisted of Minato, Kaori and Celeste and heard him trying to explain what he had just witnessed in the game while fooling around with the cabinet.

“I’m tellin’ ya the truth! I swear this game had something to do with Shinichi’s death!” He shouted but the two girls shook their heads and sighed, Kenji walked over to Minato and asked him what was wrong where Minato also shouted at Kenji too. “T-This game, that’s what’s wrong! This game predicted Shinichi’s death!” Meiko and Kenji both gave each other worrying look; to them it seemed that Minato had finally gone off the deep end but when they turned around all four of them saw Minato putting a code into the game using the controls.

“Up, up, down, down, left, right, B, A then Start.” Minato muttered under his breath and they saw the screen light up with the words, ‘Clock Tower: Ultimate Reality Edition Ultimax Suplex R ~remixed~ the title screen looked darker then the screen turned to static, when it finally came through the sprite on the screen resembled Shinichi and Minato has full control of the character again. Instead of the old mansion setting that was seen before it was a school setting, Minato walked the character up the stairs to the locker room where the screen went black after about a couple seconds the screen turned on and the student’s body was floating in the pool face down while Monokuma was seen sitting in the lifeguard’s seat beside the pool. The game crashed and all the students looked visibly disturbed at the image, Minato sighed and turned his head slightly to look at the group.

“I told ya so…” Minato muttered again and shook his head, Kenji looked away from the screen and covered his mouth with his left hand and thought to himself for a moment. Minato was right, this game must have something to do with Shinichi’s death, and everything seemed to be fitting into place with some heavy holes in the middle of it. But there wasn’t even enough evidence to point out a suspect at this point, he decided to remember the game and added it to his notebook for the time being.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Clock Tower extra game~

The group continued to exchange thoughts on the game but when Kenji was about to leave them all heard Monokuma’s voice on the PA system, “Alright you guys, time’s up! Have you gathered all your evidence because if you did… Make your way to the giant red door so we can start the second class trial, Upupupu!” The group all looked towards the gym doors where some of the other students game to get them. The remaining 16 students stood in front of the red door, Kenji was in front of them. The Lucky Student placed both hands on each of the handles and pulled them down. The doors opened and the elevator doors opened too, every single one of them exchanged worrying looks or some even were refusing to participate in the trial at all.

But Meiko walked over to Kenji’s side and held his hand, smiling they both got on the elevator and soon the rest of the class followed. Professor Saeko closed the elevator door and Kenji once again slammed his hand on the elevator button, it started and began its descent to the courtroom.

“ ** _A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own again… This is a game of life and death! Let’s end this trial_**.”


	7. Chapter 2: Of water and Prisons... Part 3

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the students climbed out of it and looked around. The courtroom changed to a room that resembled an aquarium of sorts, various species of fish were swimming around the courtroom. They saw Monokuma appear out of the floor and land on the judge’s seat, the students took this as a sign and walked up to their stands, glancing over to where Shinichi used to stand for the previous Class Trial. What was place there was a stand with a monochrome image of him with a large red X in the middle of the portrait.

“Shinichi Nakamura… He was the Super High School Level Strategist, while not one who usually talked to the others including myself. He seemed pretty optimistic sometimes… Someone here killed him and I need to figure out who did for his sake.” Kenji thought to himself while looking at the portrait of Shinichi, sighing, Kenji looked away from the painting and saw that Meiko was looking at him. Feeling all thoughts of doubt go away he sighed and grabbed his e-handbook as the second class trial began.

~Trial Start, All Rise!~

Monokuma: “Alright here are the rules of the class trial! If you can figure out ‘who dunnit’ then the blackened will get executed! However if you fail to expose the blackened you all will get punished instead!”

Asuka: Yeah no shit, you told us before and you don’t need to fuckin’ tell us every time you know.”

Celeste: I think we should just cut to the chase before we all lose our heads here. We don’t want another fiasco like the previous trial do we?”

Takeshi: “Yes I agree... Should we get this trial started then?”

Kenji: “Yeah, let’s finish this trial already.”

~Truth Bullets:

  1. Monokuma File 2. 
  2. Takeshi’s Autopsy.
  3. Gash in Shinichi’s Head. 
  4. Water Filled Lungs. 
  5. Cause of Death. 
  6. Blood smear on the edge of the pool.
  7. Puddle beside the pool. 
  8. Shinichi’s Diamond shaped Pin. 
  9. Missing Shirt. 
  10. Missing Medicine Ball.
  11. Clock Tower extra game



“Let’s begin the trial!”

*Non-stop Debate 1*

~Present your evidence~

Truth Bullets Available:

  * Cause of Death.
  * Water filled lungs.
  * Clock Tower Extra Game.



Shoji: So what was used this time to kill, Shinichi?

Shoji: Was it a blunt force trauma?

Shoji: Or was it someone hitting him over the head with a heavy weight?

Minato: Come on man…

Minato: Like anyone here would be strong enough to kill someone with a pure metal weight…

Toji: Then what the hell was it then!?

Toji: We don’t even have a freakin’ **precise cause of death** here!

Kenji: No that’s wrong!

*Truth Bullet fired: Cause of Death*

~BREAK! ~

Kenji: Actually, Toji… We do have a cause of death here.

Toji: Oh really Kenji? Then share with us what it is then.

Kenji sighed and looked down at the Monokuma File and Takeshi’s Autopsy, there was something there but it was missing.

  1. >>>Monokuma File 2. 
  2. >>>Takeshi’s Autopsy.
  3. Gash in Shinichi’s Head. 
  4. Water Filled Lungs. 
  5. Cause of Death. 
  6. Blood smear on the edge of the pool.
  7. Puddle beside the pool. 
  8. Shinichi’s Diamond shaped Pin. 
  9. Missing Shirt. 
  10. Missing Medicine Ball.
  11. Clock Tower extra game



*Fuse the two truth bullets?*

  * >>>[YES]
  * [NO]



*Truth Bullets fused: Takeshi’s Autopsy & Monokuma File 2*

Kenji: The cause of death is shown in both the Monokuma File and Takeshi’s own autopsy! It said that he drowned in the pool, so that could’ve been the cause of death!

Professor Saeko: Yes both the Monokuma File AND Takeshi’s Autopsy did say that he fell in the pool, but could that mean that he actually did drown inside of it?

Mitsuru: What are you getting at, Professor…?

Professor Saeko: There was something else that was noticeable on Takeshi’s body, can you think for a moment about what that was?

Kenji: _The professor has a point… What was the other thing that we noticed right away on Shinichi’s body…_?

*Non-Stop Debate 2*

~Present your Evidence~

~Truth Bullets Available:

  * Puddle beside the Pool.
  * Gash in Shinichi’s head.
  * Missing Shirt.



Professor Saeko: You all know what I’m talking about right?

Professor Saeko: What was the other thing that was noticeable on Shinichi’s body besides him drowning?

Katsuya: What the hell are you talking about?

Katsuya: What other thing?

Kaori: Yeah how the fuck should we know?

Kaori: The best we can come up with is the fuckin’ drowning bit.

Celeste: For once I have to agree with her.

Celeste: **There’s nothing else that was remotely noticeable on his corpse** …

Kenji: No that’s wrong!

~Truth Bullet fired: Gash in Shinichi’s head~

~BREAK! ~

Celeste: Oh really, please elaborate how I’m wrong?

Kenji: Because of one thing… There was the gash in the side of his head remember?

Akira: Oh yeah that thing! Didn’t Takeshi say that was the cause of his death or somethin’?

Takeshi: I said it could possibly be the cause of his death; even I’m not certain myself…

Celeste: So much for calling yourself the Super High School Level Doctor then.

Meiko: Oh shut up, Celeste. At least he’s trying unlike you!

Minato: Ok ladies break it up; you can have your fight after the trial… But for now we should focus on our main quest!

Celeste: Y-Yes… I agree with Minato here…

Kenji: ' _Wow what’s with the sudden attitude change…_ ' He thought to himself and rolled his eyes, shaking his head he looked down at the remaining truth bullets.

Everything wasn’t falling into place like the last trial, if he or the others couldn’t find a culprit. Then they would all be killed instead, however looking at all the evidence that was piling up so far this didn’t seem like a murder at all. Looking towards the students who were coming up with their own theories about who killed Shinichi or how he died and some were even accusing each other of killing him, it descended into pure chaos once again with everyone threatening one another and people shouting at each other until they heard a loud booming voice come from someone.

“OI SHUT THE FUCK UP! THE WHOLE LOT O’ YA ARE GIVIN’ ME A HEADACHE!”

Looking up from his e-handbook, Kenji saw that Minato was glaring at the group of students. Some looked surprised at Minato’s sudden burst of anger, everyone pegged him as being the happy-go-lucky guy of the bunch but he turned to Kenji and pointed at him. “Oi jerk off! Don’t go givin’ up on us yet, besides you still have a shit ton o’ evidence right!? Then lay it on us dude!” Minato shouted at Kenji who smiled and nodded, glancing back towards the center of the courtroom the third debate began.

*Non-Stop debate 3*

~Present your evidence~

Truth Bullets Available:

  * >>>Pool Side Puddle. 
  * >>>Blood on the edge of the pool. 
  * Missing Medicine ball.



*Truth Bullet Fusion set! Pool Side Puddle & Blood on the edge of the pool*

Katsuya: Wait there’s more evidence?

Katsuya: Well then Minato, why don’t you **share it with us** then?

Minato: I don’t have the evidence really.

Minato: **HE** has the evidence we are looking for!

Mitsuru: Oh really? Well who has the evidence then?

Minato: Kenji has the evidence you idiots!

Minato: There was one thing that he- No all of us noticed!

Minato: Even Asuka noticed that small detail!

Asuka: OH YEAH! Now I know what you are talking about!

Asuka: Kenji you must remember right…

Minato & Asuka: Do you remember t **hose two small details**?

Kenji: That must be it!

*Truth Bullet Fired: Pool Side Puddle & Blood on the edge of the pool*

*Consent with Minato & Asuka*

~BREAK! ~

Kenji: That’s right! The puddle by the poolside and the blood on the edge of the pool… I know what happened in this case now!

Takeshi: Ah is that so, why don’t you share it with us then...

Takeshi: Who was the one who killed Shinichi Nakamura?

Select Someone:

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane.
  4. Kaori Suou.
  5. Celestia Ludenberg.
  6. Toji Kuzunoha.
  7. Shoji Suzuhara.
  8. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  9. Shinji Morishige.
  10. Yukari Morishige.
  11. >> [[Shinichi Nakamura]].
  12. Asuka Yoshida. 
  13. Katsuya Ikari.
  14. Takeshi Narukami.
  15. Hikari Shinohara.
  16. Akira Hohaku.
  17. Eikichi Takeba.
  18. Hikari Shinohara.
  19. Mitsuru Shishido.
  20. Seiko Yasuhiro.



Kenji: You’re the only one!

~BREAK! ~

Kenji: It’s because no one killed, Shinichi in the first place…

Kenji: He slipped and hit his head on the poolside!

Everyone gasped at the revelation; no one would’ve suspected that he would’ve slipped and killed himself. Some of the students began to chatter among themselves and even doubted the possibly of Shinichi slipping in the pool by accident, “What makes you think that Shinichi killed himself in the first place!?” Shinji shouted at Kenji, but the Lucky Student chuckled and pointed at Shinji.

“Because of one other thing too…”

  * >>>There were bare footprints in the puddle of water.
  * Shinichi magically slipped because of a sudden burst of cold air.
  * He was attacked by someone.



“It’s because of the bare footprints in the water…. If you look closely you can see that someone walked in the puddle and judging by the size of the footprints, they obviously belong to Shinichi!” Kenji shouted back at Shinji, the Boxer shut his mouth and gave a defeated sigh. But someone else also put their two cents in the conversation too.

“Yo Kenji, if Shinichi did fall into the pool… How would you explain the missing medicine ball?” Matsu said bluntly, Kenji was taken aback by Matsu’s sudden opinion in the conversation. However Katsuya came to Kenji’s recuse and glanced over at the Otaku.

“It’s because saw the medicine ball lying at the bottom of the pool while I was fetching Shinichi’s corpse…” Katsuya piped in, and Matsu also gave a defeated sigh. Kenji thought it over for a minute, if they really solved the case at this point; what about all the other evidence that he collected? Would it all go to waste now? But Kenji had to wrap this all up since the feeling of unrest was still among the students and he could feel it.

“OK! I think it’s time we put this case to rest, here’s what happened the night before!”

~Closing argument~

Kenji started to piece together the events of the night before; everything about his theory about Shinichi falling into the pool was fitting together until he finished his closing argument.

“It’s all coming together!”

“Let’s go back to last night shall we? After we all played that Clock Tower game, Shinichi took the events of the game as an insult and blow to his character and that he decided to learn how to swim while everyone else was sleeping. Leaving in the middle of the night he went up to the Locker Room and began to train using a ‘How to’ Swimming guide he got from the library, he discarded his diamond shaped pendant in the locker with the blue tracksuit and duffle bag to keep it safe while he was learning how to swim.”

“Entering the pool area and taking the medicine ball with him, he wanted to build some upper body strength but he ended up dropping the ball and it rolled in the pool. Running after it he slipped in the water that was left by the others when they went swimming, he slipped and hit his head on the side of the pool cracking his head open and knocking him out. But by then it was too late as his body also slipped into the pool and he was facing downwards where water filled his lungs and he effectively drowned.”

“That’s why… The Killer is no one! It was an accident all along!”

~BREAK!~

Everyone was stunned, some people still had trouble grasping the fact that Shinichi died because he slipped into the pool. However Monokuma laughed and they all turned towards the bear, “That’s right you guys! What happened to Shinichi…? It was actually an accidental death upupupu!” The Bear the shouted at all the students and some of them covered their mouths, others simply shook their heads and the rest didn’t say a word at all. However from among the group (probably Toji) shouted at Monokuma.

“Does this mean that no one will get executed this time!?” He shouted and Monokuma sadly nodded. The monochrome bear looked sad that no one would be getting executed this time, but everyone took this chance to run towards the elevator and to never look back at that fish filled courtroom again. As the elevator was rising they all heard Monokuma laughing at them, when they reached the first floor all of them retreated back into the dining hall for something to drink or eat. But even though there were food and drinks out for everyone, they all lost their appetites and couldn’t eat, some of the students already left for bed while others were just sitting and talking to each other.

Getting up and walking out of the dining hall, Kenji saw that Kaori and Minato were walking together and laughing while Celeste watched them from afar. He also encountered Matsu and Toji who said good night to him and ran to catch up with Minato and Kaori, seeing Shinji and Yukari the two said good night too and entered their room.

Unlocking his door and entering his own room, the lucky student sighed. They managed to avoid seeing another execution but even though it was ruled as an accidental death, something about it seemed off to him. All the other evidence that was collected but never used, deciding to keep a hold of the Monokuma File and the evidence he didn’t know why but he felt like he needed it for another trial. Falling on his bed he looked up at the ceiling and sighed, how long will they continue to be trapped in here? He guessed that it was going to be a long time but he ignored it for now and eventually drifted off to sleep.

~Meanwhile… In another part of Hope’s Peak Academy~

“Upupupu, I’m surprised that you managed to make it look like an accidental death!” Monokuma said to a mysterious figure that was sitting on a desk looking away from the bear, the person then grabbed their tie and fixed it, turning to Monokuma, they glared at him.

“I said that I would kill someone, now release the others!” They replied but the bear turned away from the person and laughed, the person wore a shocked expression on their face as Monokuma continued to laugh.

“Y-You mean you aren’t going to release them!? That was part of the deal you son of a bitch!” The person shouted at Monokuma but he laughed once more and looked back at them, the person backed away slightly and looked away.

“In case you haven’t noticed it, you are still the blackened and I was generous enough to let them all live while they all guessed wrong, now leave me alone while I come up with a new motive Upupupu!” He replied and the person left the room and hit their head on the door, the only thing that they could be thankful for was that the remaining students were alive. As they began to leave, Monokuma’s laugh came from the door and the person covered their ears and ran away as far as they could from the room.

~Chapter 2: Of water and prisons: END~

~Remaining Students: ~

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane. 
  4. Kaori Suou.
  5. Celestia Ludenberg.
  6. Toji Kuzunoha.
  7. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  8. Shoji Suzuhara.
  9. Shinji Morishige.
  10. Yukari Morishige.
  11. Asuka Yoshida.
  12. Akira Hohaku.
  13. Takeshi Narukami.
  14. Katsuya Ikari.
  15. Mitsuru Shishido.



Remaining adults: 

  1. Seiko Yasuhiro.



~Deceased students~

  1. Hikari Shinohara.
  2. Eikichi Takeba.
  3. Shinichi Nakamura.



~16/18 students + 1 adult remain~

 


	8. Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can’t possibly despair this much!? Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the second class trial behind them, Class 79 is trying their best to cope with three of their classmates murdered or executed. However since another floor in the academy has opened up, will our underdogs finally find a way out?
> 
> Probably not...

Yawning, Kenji Katsuragi looked at his ceiling for a good ten minutes. He had been woken up by the Monokuma announcement but didn’t bother to get out of bed, he wanted to sleep longer but he heard someone banging on his door. “Oi Kenji! Get your ass outta bed! We are planning a meeting so hurry up before I knock your door down!” Shouted a voice from behind the door, judging from the voice it was either Akira or Kaori.

Dragging himself out of bed, he walked over to the door and opened it. Bumping into Asuka the two made small talk about the events of the last trial and how some of the evidence seemed useless to them in the first place because it was ruled as an accidental death. When the two of them entered the Dining hall, everyone gathered again and like usual began to make plans for their day of searching for the key, pulling up a chair beside Minato and Matsu. The Professor walked in the Dining Hall and placed a map on the table in front of her.

However just as she was about to open her mouth, Monokuma appeared and landed on the map of Hope’s Peak. All the students simply ignored him and continued on with their conversations. But Monokuma had an announcement like always, “Upupupu, ok you guys guess what…?” He asked and a few students asked ‘What?’ in uninterested voices, but the bear only replied with: “I opened up the third floor of the academy so you guys can explore again upupupu!” But the moment he said that, a herd of students ran past Monokuma and knocked him off the table, the professor also ignored the bear and ran after her students. Monokuma sighed and disappeared again to keep an eye on the students.

When the group reached the third floor, they all split up again like how they did on the second floor. Noticing that the door to the rec room was open Kenji followed Minato, Matsu, Toji and Shoji in, looking around the rec room he noticed that they all were huddled around the large TV. “Ok I’m gonna take it… Help me unhook it you guys!” Minato said with a sly grin on his face, the other also started laughing as they began to unhook the various cables that were connected to the TV. All of them then lifted it up with groans.

“Ugh this thing must weigh a freakin’ ton!” Toji groaned as he attempted to hold his side of the TV up.

"Can't weigh anymore than Matsu and Minato combined y'know..." Shoji replied with a slight chuckle as Minato and Matsu both glared at the hacker who quickly shut his mouth.

Shoji and Matsu were just dying because of the surprisingly heavy weight; Minato on the other hand was trying to hold his side while Matsu was bumping into him continuously. “OI! Watch were yer going’!” Minato shouted at Matsu who knocked him over into the cabinet, Monokuma appeared and started yelling at the group.

“What do you think you are doing!? Put that TV back or face the risk of punishment!” The bear yelled at them, the group started panicking and hastily put the TV back in place; they connected all the cables and ran out of the room before Monokuma could chase after them and Kenji soon followed for fear that he would be yelled at too by the monochrome bear, following the group they all began laughing over Monokuma’s reaction and they entered the Art Room where they found the remainder of the students looking around.

Kenji spilt off from the other guys and looked around the art room, seeing a statue of Monokuma. He resisted the urge to knock it over with the fury of a thousand suns but he ignored it for now, noticing a door in the far back of the art room Kenji opened it and peeked inside. Feeling around the walls for a light switch, he felt a hand grab him and he screamed causing the person who grabbed him to scream too. Hitting the shelf behind him, something crashed to the floor and the lights turned on. Looking up Kenji saw Meiko looking at him with a confused look on her face, turning his head he saw that Minato was also looking at him too.

Getting up from the floor, he kicked something away from him and looked back down. It was a rather large blue hammer with the words ‘Justice Hammer 4’ painted on the side, picking it up with both hands he started to inspect it. Kenji swore for a moment he saw blood on the one end of the hammer before Minato took it out of his hands and stared at the hammer with wide eyes, “Yo Matsu! Come check this shit out! Remember how you said that you wanted a Justice Hammer for your collection!?” Minato shouted, what came back was a muffled “Yeah? What of it?” And Minato laughed and signalled for Matsu to come into the supply closet.

When Matsu entered the supply closet, he gasped and Minato held out that hammer for the Otaku to hold. Kenji chuckled and noticed that a second Justice Hammer was lying on the shelf with three other ones and a simple uncoloured one that looked like it was scrubbed thoroughly to remove something from it, picking up a hammer that was labeled ‘Justice Hammer 3’ he smiled at the simple design but holding them sent a shiver down his spine, Celeste appeared and picked up ‘Justice Hammer 1’ and giggled at it. Kenji looked at her with a confused look and she looked at the Lucky Student too and sighed, “These hammers… They look rather odd in a place like this; I wonder who could’ve made them.” She muttered as she looked from Kenji to the Justice Hammer 1 in her hands then to the two other students who were nerding out over ‘Justice Hammer 4’. She simply placed the hammer down and smiled at Kenji, turning on her heel she quickly left the room without saying good-bye to anyone.

Katsuya on the other hand who had been watching them the entire time looked sick at the sight of the Justice Hammers that he excused himself from the group and left rather quickly, the others were puzzled by his sudden change of attitude towards them. Kenji himself couldn’t describe it really; it was like he remembered something and looked like he had something to tell them all but couldn’t, ignoring it for now they all decided to split up and investigate the floor for an hour and gather in the Dining Hall after to share their findings.

Kenji looked over past the Art Room's door and saw another hallway that lead to another part of the floor, deciding to investigate it, Yukari appeared and asked if she could come along too and the Lucky Student nodded as him and Yukari both made their way down the mysterious hallway. When the two of them turned left, they both noticed a door to the left of Kenji once again, when they approached the door the sign read 'Physics Lab'.

"What do you think is inside?" Questioned Yukari while Kenji shrugged and opened the door, the two of them began searching for a light swtich since the room was pitch-black. When the Martial Artist finally located the switch, the room lit up and they were greeted with a large machine in the middle of the room. "What do you think it's for?" She asked and Kenji walked up to it and knocked on it, however as they started to investigate it, Monokuma appeared and landed on top of the machine.

"Oh you want to know what this is for hmmm?" Asked Monokuma as both of them nodded and glared up at him, hopping down from the machine and right in front of them. "Well for your information, this is an air purifier... Meaning that this is what keeps the air from getting all gross with stuff from the outside!"

Both Kenji and Yukari were confused by what Monokuma said and as Kenji was about to ask him what he meant about the outside's air, he suddenly vanished and the two of them looked at each other, "I think maybe we should go back to t he dining hall... Monokuma won't tell us nothin' so let's head back." Yukari muttered as Kenji nodded and the two of them made their way to the dining hall.

The remaining students then reported to the Dining Hall where Professor Saeko started to go over what was on the third floor, “Ok so what else did you all notice up there?” She asked and Shinji got up and chuckled.

“Well we did find a kick ass rec room with a huge ass TV that we could probably watch if we can that is…” Shinji replied and sat back down; both Matsu and Minato then stood up and revealed their findings to the Professor.

"There was also the Physics Lab too, Monokuma told us that the huge machine in there is an air purifier as well." Yukari piped up from the back of the group and the Professor jotted down the location on the list too.

“Well like Shinji said, there was the Rec Room and the Art Room…” Minato began and Matsu finished his sentence for him.

“And in the Supply Closet we found the ‘Justice Hammers’ and a couple other things too! I think we should look for the key in there y’know. Lots of places it could be hiding!” Matsu said with a smile as the Professor jotted down the notes and the two sat down. The professor then added a few more notes before handing the notebook to Kenji who read it over to himself.

Places to investigate:

  * Recreation Room.
  * Art Room.
  * Art Supply Closet.
  * Third Floor Classrooms.
  * And a sweep of the previous floors to make sure.



He then passed it on to the student beside him and the Professor nodded and smiled at her students, “Alright you guys, we have a big couple days ahead of us. Get some rest and get here the moment that bear gives his morning announcement, good night all of you!” She said as the students all got up to leave, Kenji left the dining hall with Meiko and the two made unimportant small talk where they bumped into Katsuya who looked at the two, smiled and entered his room without saying a word to either of them. They both looked confused but said good night to each other and went their separate ways for the evening.

~Meanwhile: In Katsuya Ikari’s room~

The Hitman closed his door and sighed, images of something kept popping in an out of his head. Sitting down at his desk he grabbed a notebook and began writing in it, he was hoping that he wasn’t going insane and that the others were also imagining the same images as him. The images in question were like memories, old memories that have been forgotten or sealed away by some force that wasn’t in their control. After writing three pages of stuff in his notebook, Katsuya got up from his desk and walked over to his bed, pulling the covers off his bed he saw a little black book laying neatly in the middle of his bed.

Picking up the book and flipping through the contents, his face went wide with shock and confusion. "D...Does this mean that... All those images I've been seeing in my head... They all were... Repressed memories...?" Katsuya asked himself when he flipped to a photo of him, Minato and Kaori all smiling and he clutched his head, he remembered that Kenji was the one who took the photo of all of them after a small fight between one of the other classes of Hope's Peak, but this couldn't be true since they all just entered the Academy.

Sitting down on his bed he continued to flip through the pages. He only shook his head and tried to keep himself composed at the photos contained in the book, he only had one question to ask himself at this point. “How am I going to ask the others about this…?”

Katsuya looked at the clock and sighed, walking over to his wardrobe, he pulled out a crowbar and made sure that no one was outside of their room and he made his way to the third floor before anyone could see him.

~The Next Morning~

Kenji got up a few moments before the start of the Monokuma announcement and made his way to the Dining Hall where the others all gathered; the Professor also walked in and placed the map of Hope’s Peak Academy on the table. The students all huddled around the map and the professor who told them their plan for the day, Kenji would be placed in a group with Meiko, Shoji, Asuka and Katsuya. They would be tasked with searching the third floor classrooms for the day, the group set off for the third floor when Katsuya stopped Kenji and asked if he could speak with him in private.

Agreeing to talk to him for a moment, the two stood outside the locker rooms where Katsuya sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Kenji I have something to ask of you…” Kenji nodded and replied with ‘Ask away.’ While the hitman sighed and shook his head, “Listen have you ever… Had any strange images in your head? Like… Forbidden Memories of something?” He asked while Kenji shook his head. Katsuya looked disappointed and muttered ‘I see…” And left Kenji standing there alone and confused.

As the day went on, Katsuya would often ask the odd student the same question and would either get a confused response or just a plain ‘No.’ from the odd student who was annoyed with their current task. The day ended with no luck again and everyone dispersed back into their room after dinner, the twelfth day finally arrived and Kenji was placed in a group with Minato, Matsu, Akira and Celeste, they all would be tasked with searching the Art Room.

About an hour into searching around the Art Room and Supply Closet, both Minato and Matsu went missing from the group. Celeste said to ignore it since it was highly probable that they were just screwing around and Kenji agreed with her, entering the Supply Closet again and with his back turned from the door. He heard it open and the sound of something dragging on the floor, thinking that it was someone pulling a prank on him. Kenji turned around and was greeted with the face of a blue robot and the person who was wearing the mask raised one of the Justice Hammers above their head, he screamed and put his hands out as the person brought the hammer down and placed it in Kenji’s arms. With a confused stare he saw that the person wearing the mask was Minato who was attempting to take it off, Matsu also ran into the room wearing one of Robo Justice’s Arms and Legs.

After some struggle they managed to pull off the mask and Minato gave a sigh of relief and slapped Kenji on the back with a laugh, “Man you are a life saver! Matsu and I were in the pool area checking out that closet in the back and we found this silly robot suit!” Minato sighed and Matsu chuckled, Kenji looked bewildered that they would find a robot suit in the pool area. However Matsu only shrugged and picked up the arm of the costume and inspected it, he even looked amazed at the detail that was placed into creating the entire colour scheme and everything else that could be inspected.

“Wow whoever made this went for the kill! It’s a perfect replica to the original Robo Justice from the anime… I wonder who made this in the first place…” He wondered to himself for a moment before setting the arm down and scratching the back of his head, Matsu just left it at that. Kenji thought that Matsu was thinking about the creator of the suit the entire day as he began to drop names of various people who are known to make detailed costumes and outfits, Celeste meanwhile picked up the head and looked at it. Putting it down she only giggled at it and sighed, it looked familiar to her like it was an object of a past life that she encountered again in her current one.

The day ended rather quickly with no luck at finding the key, Kenji had to tell Shoji to keep his mouth shut because he cracked a joke about Kenji’s Super High School Level title not being accurate and that his Luck was pretty much in the gutter. By the thirteenth day everyone was getting annoyed again, tempers were flaring between the students and some even started fighting again.

The moment that Kenji had entered the Dining Hall he had to dodge a plate that was thrown in his direction, looking over towards the table he saw that Yukari threw it at Asuka and the former also avoided the thrown plate too. Realizing what she had done, the Kung Fu artist excused herself and ran past Kenji. He heard a door slam and guessed that she has locked herself into her room. However he was distracted by Minato and Kaori when he saw that Minato was wearing a different tie, “Oh wow Minato, that’s an interesting tie… It’s orange…?” He said looking at it; the tie was indeed orange with a blue arrow down the middle of it. Meiko saw this and giggled at the sight of the tie.

“It looks gaudy, but it really suits you! Where did you even find this tie?” She asked and Minato shrugged, looking down at it he chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

“Oh this thing, I found it under my pillow last night when I was making my bed. But I wouldn’t forget my own tie y’know!” He replied and pulled out his usual red tie from his pocket, Kaori saw this and grabbed it from him. She then tied it around his head and let the tie part hang down from the side of his head, “Besides don’t you think an orange tie with a blue arrow makes me look much cooler? Or maybe a bit more sexier?~ He added while Meiko giggled once more before they all were called into the Dining Hall by the professor again. That day they all were allowed to freely search the academy floors for some independent search time, Kenji decided to check the Rec Room one more time.

Entering the Rec Room he saw Minato and Kaori in the room talking to each other, from the looks in their eyes he could tell that they were becoming an item together. Coughing to get their attention, Kaori stood up immediately and Minato fell off his chair with a loud crash that followed his fall. Kenji chuckled and they both helped him up, the group decided to look through the entire Rec Room the whole day but it ended with all three of them having no luck at all.

That evening they all gathered again in the Dining Hall and a couple of the students had already retired for the evening to get ready to search the next morning, however Kenji saw that Minato whispered something into Kaori’s ear and she smiled and nodded at him. “Alright see ya there man.” She replied and he ran to his room, when she saw Kenji looking at her, she only threw something at him and he ducked under the table to avoid a cup from hitting him in the head. When he got up he saw that she left the Dining Hall and Monokuma’s Evening announcement played, deciding to turn it in for the night he saw that Kaori was leaving her room but ran away when she saw him.

When he was about to enter his room, he saw Katsuya staring at Kaori before he said ‘Good Night.’ To Kenji and entered his room, he swore for a moment that Katsuya was holding a blue binder with the Hope's Peak Logo but he shrugged it off. Kenji found this strange that he was staring at the two of them intensely and decided to finally enter his after saying good night to the others who passed by him, sitting on his bed he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen again. But he decided to remain positive in any way he could, it took him a while to get to sleep but as he was drifting off to sleep. He swore for a moment that he heard someone screaming.

~The Fourteenth day~

The next morning, Kenji was woken once again to the sounds of someone banging on his door. Rubbing his eyes and yawning he saw Akira standing in front of his door, she sighed and shook her head at his tired face. “Hey we are meeting up a few minutes early because the professor wants to speak with us, so get yer ass in gear!” She shouted and ran for the Dining Hall, Kenji grabbed his hoodie and followed her soon after.

Entering the dining hall he sat down beside Matsu and Shoji and grabbed a slice of toast, while beginning to nibble on it he noticed that both Minato and Kaori weren’t among the group. “Hey did you see Minato or Kaori around?” He asked Matsu who only yawned and shook his head before turning away from Kenji. Looking at Celeste he asked her if she seen either one but said that she didn’t either, in the middle of their conversation they both saw Katsuya walk in holding his right arm. He sat down and exchanged pleasantries with some of the others before going silent once more and also grabbed a slice of toast.

When the professor arrived she counted the remaining students and also noticed the sudden absence from her two loudest students, she asked if they saw Minato or Kaori and all of them said they hadn’t seen either since last night. Growing worried, she told the students to look for the two to see if they were safe or worse. Kenji was about to leave when Celeste and Meiko stopped him and asked if they could search with him, he agreed and they all ran to the third floor and began searching around. There was nothing out of the ordinary until they searched in the Art Room; all three of them saw the Supply Closet door open with the lights turned off.

Kenji cautiously approached the doorway and felt for the light switch, closing his eyes before turning the light switch on he heard Meiko let out a shrill shriek and also heard Celeste gasp. Deciding to open his own eyes, he looked down and saw a familiar body lying face up.

The body of Kaori Suou was layed out, her eyes wide with shock as the side of her head was exposed to the world. Beside her was one of the ‘Justice Hammers’ that they all discovered a couple days before but they all were re-coloured to say ‘Deathbringer Hammer’, Kenji walked over to her body and saw that the front of her shirt was covered in blood. By that time the entire class showed up and there was a collective gasps and screams heard from each of them, Takeshi pushed his way through the group and also saw Kaori’s body lying there too.

Getting down on one knee he began to inspect the body before the sounds of shuffling and groaning could be heard, from outside the Supply Closet Kenji heard everyone gasp and some people even asked ‘Are you Ok!?” Kenji turned around and saw Minato standing there, he had looked badly beaten and the side of his head was bloody too. The Orange tie that he was wearing also had some specks of blood around the noose and the left arm of his dress shirt was covered in blood too, walking slowly over to Kaori’s body he fell on both knees and grabbed Kaori’s body and began to silently sob. Celeste walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, he didn’t even react to her touch.

Tears started to stream down his face and they fell on Kaori’s face, she turned her eyes and looked at him. Giving him a small smile he looked relieved but she shook her head and let out a groan, “Heh… Guess I got carried… Away huh…” Kaori muttered and Minato looked down at her, “L-Listen man… I wanted to let you know… These past few weeks together… I… I had a blast with you…” She added and Minato started to shake his head wildly and mutter out ‘No stop talking, yer gonna get through this.” But all that Kaori did was shake her head and smile wider at him, “M-Minato… Tell Asuka… She can take control of the gang again… Minato… I… I… I love you man… And I remember now…”

Minato looked at Kaori with a confused look on his face, she saw this and chuckled at him. “I remember I met you… I met all of you before all this bullshit… Minato… You and I… Ahaha… All of us… I remember it all now… I hope that you remember it soon…”

Minato shook his head and asked her one question, “W-Who attacked… Us…?” she looked up at the group and muttered out.

“K…Kats…u…” And fell silent once more, Minato started to shake her awake but it was no good. Kaori Suou was dead, Minato let out a wail of despair before falling over and also passing out. Meiko screamed while Celeste got down on her knees and held Minato’s head in her lap; Takeshi turned his attention to Minato and felt for a pulse. There was a faint one and he ordered Matsu, Shoji and Toji to run to the medical office and grab a stretcher.

“Run you fucking idiots! He’s not going to last while you two sit there and do nothing!” The doctor shouted and the three of them ran for the Nurse’s Office, then they all heard the Monokuma announcement play on the PA system.

“Attention Students, it seems that a body has been discovered! So now you all will receive a copy of the Monokuma File! You have an hour or two to gather all the evidence you need to help you all in your third Class Trial! Happy hunting you guys! Upupupupupu~”

Kenji clenched his fists and shouted “Monokuma! Get your ass here!” and the bear appeared before the group, Kenji walked brisk fully over to Monokuma just as Matsu, Shoji and Toji appeared with the stretcher. The three of them began to load Minato on it when Kenji glared at Monokuma.

“We have a friend who might survive and leave us critical evidence, could you hold on till he wakes up so we can start on our investigation?” Kenji asked with pure malice in his voice, the bear placed a paw on his chin and nodded.

“Upupu alright then! But if he dies you all have to investigate without this ‘critical evidence’!” And Monokuma disappeared again after that, in front of the infirmary a group of the students were gather at the door but Asuka and Akira were guarding the entrance so that no one could disturb Takeshi as he was patching Minato up. After half an hour passed, Takeshi walked out of the infirmary and sighed.

“He’s gonna make it, but let’s let him rest for now… Celeste will let us know if anything goes wrong.” Takeshi muttered and the group dispersed again, most went back to the third floor to investigate but Kenji sat on the floor beside the infirmary doors and looked over the Monokuma File for Kaori, he wanted this nightmare to end right then and there. Meiko sat beside him and put her head on his shoulder and the two remained silent as they waited for Minato’s recovery.

Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can’t possibly despair this much!? Part 1… end.


	9. Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can’t possibly despair this much!? Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When waking up, Minato Shirogane must now face the horrible truth that one of his friends was killed by one of their own, will he be able to find all the evidence he can or will he fail in finding out who killed Kaori Suou.

“Hope’s Peak Academy, where only the best of the best can go” a young man said while looking up at the gates.

“Somehow ‘I’ actually managed to get into Hope’s Peak; honestly I guess it was skill kinda… Still I, Minato Shirogane one of the famous members of the Shirogane Family was accepted into Hope’s Peak, well I’m different than the rest of my family. Ya see… They are all Private Investigators and me… Well I’m the Super High School Level Gamer, yeah it's not an impressive title but I can sure cause a controller to go ablaze if I wanted to y’know!” Minato thought to himself as he opened the gates to Hope’s Peak; walking up the entrance way he was confused that there weren’t any other students around. So he thought that he must have been very early or very late to the entrance ceremony.

Opening the doors to the entrance hall, he felt tired the whole room started to spin and he clutched his head it felt like his mind was being torn apart at the seams, looking up he saw Kaori and she screamed at him. “Minato watch out!”

He woke up screaming and Celeste grabbed his shoulders, looking at her and his surroundings. He noticed that they were in the infirmary, Minato looked at Celeste again and she handed him a glass of water which he chugged down in an instant. After letting his mind settle down for a moment, he looked over at the other medical bed and hoped that Kaori was in the other bed recovering like he was but sadly she wasn’t, turning over to Celeste he was about to open his mouth but she nodded and looked down.

The Gamer sighed and stood up; grabbing his shirt and the orange tie he was wearing. Minato looked in the mirror and saw the bandage wrapped around his head, he shook his head and Celeste walked over towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder however when she grabbed him he winced and held the side of his face. He saw images, images of him meeting the other students in a classroom flashed though his mind, Celeste saw this and looked at him “What’s wrong…? Is something the matter…?” She asked but Minato shook his head and walked for the door, what could he say to her anyways. She would think that he’s nuts or that he lost his mind.

When she saw him walking for the door, she grabbed his arm and glared at him. “What do you think you are doing!?” She asked in a hushed tone, but Minato shrugged her off and opened the door. Looking outside he noticed that no one was around, he guessed that they were all investigating already so he made a run for the stairs but clutched his head again as he saw images of him, Matsu, Shoji, Toji, Shinji and another large student who was wearing the same tie that Minato was currently wearing, walking up the stairs with their bags and wearing an unfamiliar uniform. He saw that they all were laughing about something and the vision shortly disappeared from his eyes, Celeste ran over to him and asked again if he was alright. He nodded and continued to walk but Celeste decided to help support him up the stairs.

The two eventually reached the third floor where they saw the others looking around and talking, Kenji was there and he was the first to spot him and Celeste. Minato said hi to the others and turned towards the Lucky Student, “Give me all the evidence you have collected, I want to end this Class Trial myself this time.” He said in a determined voice, Kenji looked at him and noticed the sudden change in attitude in Minato. Kenji nodded and gave Minato his notebook with all the evidence that they had collected so far.

~Investigation Time~

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Deathbringer Hammer~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Re-coloured Justice Hammers~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 3~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Takeshi’s Autopsy~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Bloody Footprints~

Minato looked over the notes and opened up his own copy of the Monokuma File:

Monokuma File 3:

  * The Victim was Kaori Suou.
  * Time of death was around 2:15AM.
  * The body was found in the Art Room Supply Closet at 11:00AM.
  * Cause of death was a blow to the head that almost killed her instantly, the wounds were almost the same as Minato Shirogane’s but more fatal.
  * Other than that the murder weapon was left at the crime scene.



He pocketed the notebook and pushed past the others. Minato entered the Art Room and walked into the Supply Closet. Celeste followed him and saw that he was inspecting Kaori’s body; he turned the body’s head slightly and saw that the left side was bashed in, almost like Hikari’s head was.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: The Gash in Kaori’s Head~

Leaving her body for now, he picked up the hammer and looked at it. The number ‘4’ was still visible and both ends of it had blood covering each end; however the side that was closest to Kaori had the most blood.

~Truth Bullet Updated: Deathbringer Hammer~

Setting the hammer down, he looked down at the floor and saw the bloody footprints that had been left by the killer, he remembered the shape of them but couldn’t really remember who had shoes like that.

Minato then turned to Celeste. “Listen, I know you want to come with me… Why is that?” He asked and she looked away from him and crossed her arms and sighed, Minato gave her a stern look and she looked at him with a concerned look on her face.

“I’m worried about you, you seem like you could go overboard and you just regained consciousness, and you were almost tumbling around plus you nearly fell outside the infirmary too.” She replied rather bluntly, Minato had to agree with her on that. He felt half out of it and he did charge into an ongoing investigation knowing full well that he could screw something up quickly.

Closing his eyes and sighed. “You have a good point for the most part; follow me to the Rec Room… That’s where Kaori and I were attacked…” He left the crime scene behind and Celeste followed him to the Rec Room, they met Takeshi, Kenji, Meiko and Akira. All four of them were investigating the area, walking over to the closet Minato saw that there was blood on back and side of it.

“This bloodstain… That must have come from me…” Minato muttered to himself as he touched the blood with his fingers, deciding to see if his theory was correct he walked into the closet and tilted his head to the side slightly. Celeste saw this and asked what he was doing, “Could you see if the bloodstain in here matches where my head is positioned?” He replied and she nodded, Minato tilted his head to the left and she gasped.

“You were right, Minato… Those bloodstains match where you had been hit on the head.” Celeste replied and Minato nodded, the events of the night before were coming back to him now.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Closet Bloodstains~

But if he kept investigating the room he might remember more about the night, walking over to the door he saw that the handle was broken off with a fire extinguisher lying beside it. Picking it up he thought for a moment when another memory came up, it was him and Kaori trying to keep their attacker from coming in the Rec Room.

“Minato… Use your tie if you can!” Kaori shouted as she was rummaging around for something that they could defend themselves with, he looked confused but then he remembered his usual red tie that he had around his head. He grabbed it and attempted to tie the door knob to the pool sticks that were beside the door, but the killer managed to open the door a bit and reach his hand through the small opening. The Gamer screamed and Kaori came running up with a fire extinguisher, she slammed it down on the attacker’s wrist with a sickening crack they both looked through the small window and saw the head of Justice Robo peering at them through the window, both the gamer and the gang leader screamed but the killer crashed through the door releasing the tie and raising the hammer above their head.

Minato pushed Kaori out of the way and the hammer was brought down on his head, Kaori screamed and he told her to run which she did. The attacker tried to follow her but Minato grabbed onto their pant leg and tried to slow them down, but he was knocked out again by another blow to the head.

The memory ended and he glanced down at the fire extinguisher again, Kaori used to as a last ditch effort to protect them both if she could. Pulling out the notebook he began to add the next few pieces of evidence he had found or remembered.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Fire Extinguisher~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Location of Justice Robo costume head~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Killer’s unique shoes~

“Oh yeah that’s right, my… Tie…?” He muttered and looked around for it; there was no sign of the red tie anywhere in the room. Minato picked up the potted plant and looked under it but it wasn’t there at all, turning around he asked the others if they saw his tie and they all shook their heads. That was strange indeed, why would the killer or someone steal his own tie? Minato pulled out the notebook again and scribbled down his latest piece of evidence.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s Missing Tie~

Walking over to the TV set, he noticed that the video games that he brought with him were all neatly stacked and placed in alphabetical order. If memory served him correctly both him and Kaori just pulled out whatever games they wanted to play and strewn them around the TV area, who could’ve taken their time to clean up and arrange the games in order in the first place?

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Cleaned up Video Games~

After collecting all the evidence they needed, both Minato and Celeste left the Rec Room. Looking down at Kenji’s notebook that he had basically stolen at this point, he began to go over all the evidence. Glancing at his watch he noticed that they were almost out of time for investigating, Minato decided to zero in on the location of the missing Robo Justice Head first. Remembering that Matsu and him had both been playing with the costume the night before him and Celeste decided to run to the pool area where Minato and Matsu had returned the suit.

The duo reached the pool and they saw Matsu sobbing over by the locker at the far side of the pool, they both looked confused and walked over to him and Matsu clung onto Minato and began sobbing harder. “T-T-That person defaced a great work of art!” He cried out and Celeste walked over to the locker and started pulling out pieces of the Robo Justice costume until she found the head of it and she gasped, dropping it Minato pushed Matsu off him and saw the head of the costume.

It has specks of blood on it; the mask had also been defaced like the Justice Hammers. Minato then looked at the chest and saw that specks of blood were also on the chest armour too, he closed his eyes and sighed. The Blood had to have come from himself or Kaori, but judging by the amount of specks on the suit and mask it had to have been from her because of how brutal the wound in her head was.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Specks of Blood on the Robo Justice costume~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Location of the Robo Justice Head~

Putting the mask down he turned to the shocked Celeste and the blubbering Matsu, he looked down and shook his head. That’s when they hall heard the Monokuma announcement play on the PA system, they turned towards the screen and they all saw Monokuma appear on the screen and laugh at the students, “Upupupu~ alright I hope you gathered all your evidence since the Class Trials will begin immediately! Please make your way to the big red doors on the first floor, see you all there!” He said in a happy tone of voice that was grating to all their ears, Minato sighed and started to walk towards the exit of the pool where Matsu and Celeste followed him.

When the trio reached the red doors, Minato walked in and they all saw the others were there waiting for them. The remaining students all looked at him with a look of worry, Kenji and Meiko walked up to Minato and Celeste. Kenji then held out his hand towards the gamer and sighed, “Listen… You can back out of this trial now… Monokuma said that if you aren’t doing well you can skip out on this one.” Kenji said but Minato shook his head and looked at the elevator gates, pushing past Kenji and Meiko he opened the doors and was about to step off before Celeste walked over to him and patted him on the back and held his hand in hers.

The gamer smiled as the remaining students filed on the elevator and the Professor closed the elevator gates behind them all, Minato closed his eyes and thought to himself before he saw Kaori in his mind. She was smiling at him and waved before the elevator began it’s descent into to the trial room; he opened his eyes and saw that Katsuya was looking at him intensely while Minato glared at him. Something seemed to be off with Katsyua as he kept looking at everyone with a look of deep suspicion and fear, but Minato ignored him and sighed.

Thinking about their current situation he growled and closed his eyes and muttered to himself:

“A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own again… This is a game of life and death! Let’s end this trial.”


	10. Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can’t possibly despair this much!? Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minato has found all the evidence that he can for use in this class trial, will hr be able to find out who killed Kaori or will he fail in exposing her murderer?

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the students climbed out of it and looked around. The courtroom changed to a room that resembled a basement of sorts, the lights were shining brightly over the grimy floor that looked weathered and old. Minato swore for a moment that the walls used to be blue and the white banners were tattered and torn.

They saw Monokuma appear out of the floor and land on the judge’s seat, the students took this as a sign and walked up to their stands, Minato then glanced over to where Kaori used to stand for the previous two Class Trials. What was place there was a stand with a monochrome image of her with a large red X in the middle of the portrait.

Minato closed his eyes and sighed, someone in the group killed Kaori Suou and he was going to find out who it was. “Kaori Suou was a girl that most people feared or misunderstood, I guess with her nickname as Suou the Slaughterer and her reputation of being someone who was feared by even some of the toughest biker gangs out there sorta put her in a bad light… But I knew the real Kaori Suou, and for someone to take her life like that… I’ll make sure that they are executed by my own hand.” He sighed and pulled out his e-handbook and waited as the third trial began.

~Trial Start: All Rise! ~

Monokuma: “Alright here are the rules of the class trial! If you can figure out ‘who dunnit’ then the blackened will get executed! However if you fail to expose the blackened you all will get punished instead!”

Asuka: “Yeah we fucking get it! Just keep your trap shut so we can get it started already!”

Takeshi: “Of course, but I believe I know who committed this murder in the first place.”

Kenji: “Huh? Wait… How would you know?”

Takeshi: “The culprit is none other than Matsumoto Kishinuma.”

Matsu: “Ahaha… SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!?”

Celeste: “Ah I see what you mean; Matsu has no Alibi in between right?”

Asuka: “So come out with it, Matsu… Did you kill Kaori!?”

Matsu: “Of course I didn’t!”

Minato: ‘ _Matsu is telling the truth… Besides I know that he wouldn’t kill Kaori and attempt to murder me…_ ’

Minato: ‘ _There’s evidence here to prove his innocence!_ ’

~Truth Bullets:

  1. Monokuma File 3.
  2. Takeshi’s Autopsy.
  3. Deathbringer Hammer.
  4. Re-coloured Justice Hammers.
  5. Bloody Footprints.
  6. Closet Bloodstains.
  7. Fire Extinguisher.
  8. Location of Justice Robo costume head.
  9. Justice Robo Costume Head.
  10. Killer’s unique shoes.
  11. Minato’s Missing Tie.
  12. Cleaned up Video Games.
  13. Specks of Blood on the Robo Justice costume.



“Let’s begin the trial!”

~Non-Stop Debate 1~

~Present your Evidence~

~Truth Bullets:

  * Monokuma File 3.
  * Killer’s Unique Shoes.
  * Bloody Footprints.



~Truth Bullet Fusion set! Killer’s Unique Shoes & Bloody Footprints~

Akira: You son of a bitch!

Akira: I can’t believe you **_would’ve killed Kaori_**!

Matsu: I keep tellin’ you guys!

Matsu: **I didn’t commit any damn murder**!

Celeste: Oh really? Then where’s your **Alibi**?

Kenji: You guys stop it!

Kenji: Let the guy talk!

Asuka: There’s nothing to talk about!

Asuka: Matsu committed the murder and there’s **nothing that can prove otherwise**!

Minato: No you’ve got that wrong!

~Truth Bullet Fired: Killer’s Unique Shoes & Bloody Footprints~

Minato: There’s no way that Matsu could be the killer!

Akira: OH YEAH?! WHERE’S THE DAMN EVIDENCE THEN!?

Minato: The evidence is in Matsu’s shoes!

Akira & Asuka: Say what now?

Minato held up his e-handbook and showed everyone the larger footprints, everyone gasped and Matsu took off one of his shoes and tossed it to Minato. There he compared the two soles of the soles of the shoes and they were completely different, Minato then tossed the shoe back to Matsu who put it back on in a flash.

Akira & Asuka: Ooooooooooooooooooooh… Sorry Matsu…

Matsu: Nah its ok you guys…

Celeste: That doesn’t explain why you were sobbing over the suit and was strongly attracted to it in the first place…

Matsu: Well I mean look at it… It’s a piece of art! And now art like that has been defaced and no one will ever see it in its former glory again!” Matsu shouted as he began to sob over the loss of the Justice Robo suit, Minato sighed and rolled his eyes. Leave it to Matsu to make a complete fool of himself in the middle of a trial.

Kenji: Man you are the biggest dork ever…

Celeste: But that doesn’t explain the condition of the body or what happened in the Rec Room in the first place.

Katsuya: Of course I agree with, Celeste on this one… How can we be certain that Minato himself didn’t commit the murder?

Kenji: Ok that’s the most stupid thing I’ve heard in this trial! As if Minato would end up killing one of his friends!

Katsuya: Oh but you don’t understand at all do you, Kenji.

Katsuya: Minato could’ve used his relationship with Kaori to kill her!

Celeste: Katsuya… Are you trying to pin the blame on someone else?

Kenji: Yeah man… What’s up with you suddenly?

Katsuya: Nothing is wrong! I’m just pointing out the alternatives here!

Minato: Shut yer fuckin’ trap, Katsuya. There’s no way in fuckin’ hell that I would murder, Kaori!

Minato: If I had to kill her… I would probably take my own life too if it came to that…

The atmosphere of the trial felt grim after that, everyone looked away from Minato as he looked back down at his e-handbook. There had to be something that he could come up with to help them pass this trial, he felt that suspicion was gradually falling on him now. But Celeste would end up being his saving grace.

Celeste: Minato… You have evidence that supports that you didn’t kill her, why don’t you share it with us.

Minato: ‘ _Heh… Celeste is right, besides if I give up now… Everyone will get killed instead of her killer._ ’

~Non-Stop Debate 2~

~Present your evidence~

~Truth Bullets:

  * Cleaned up Video Games.
  * Closet Bloodstains.
  * Deathbringer hammer.



Katsuya: Oh why don’t you enlighten me…?

Katsuya: What **proof** do you have that you never killed her?

Katsuya: From what I see, you did indeed kill her!

Kenji: No! That’s not true at all!

Kenji: Minato couldn’t have killer her! Besides they were close as Peanut Butter and Jelly!

Celeste: That’s an interesting way to describe their relationship…

Katsuya: Besides, what proves that Minato didn’t **attack himself** in the first place?

Minato: No that’s wrong!

~Truth Bullet Fired: Closet Bloodstains~

*BREAK!*

Minato: Why would I need to attack myself in the first place?

Katsuya: Why you ask? Well it’s obvious that you must have!

Minato: Remember how delirious I was when I entered the Art Room?

Minato: If I attacked myself and managed to make it back to the Rec Room while I was out of it, besides I was out cold from being struck with the hammer and the killer had a hard time holding the hammer in the first place!

Kenji: What’re you talking about?

Minato: ‘ _The answer is right in front of me… I know it is…_ ’

~Select an option~

  * **> >>The killer’s wrist was broken**.
  * The killer was weak and couldn’t hold the hammer straight.
  * The hammer was un-godly heavy!



 Minato: The killer’s wrist… It must have been broken.

Akira: What do you mean?

Minato: Kaori went all out on the killer when they tried to get into the room, she basically charged at him with something…

Celeste: And do you know what this something is?

Minato: Yeah I do know what it is…

~Select Truth Bullet:

  1. Monokuma File 3.
  2. Takeshi’s Autopsy.
  3. Deathbringer Hammer.
  4. Re-coloured Justice Hammers.
  5. Bloody Footprints.
  6. Closet Bloodstains.
  7. **7.** **> >>Fire Extinguisher.**
  8. Location of Justice Robo costume head.
  9. Justice Robo Costume Head.
  10. Killer’s unique shoes.
  11. Minato’s Missing Tie.
  12. Cleaned up Video Games.
  13. Specks of Blood on the Robo Justice costume.



~Evidence Presented: Fire Extinguisher~

Minato: The Fire Extinguisher in the Rec Room, that’s what she used to fuck up the killer’s hand.

Takeshi: Of course, that’s why they weren’t able to deal a finishing blow to you. Because, Kaori basically crippled the killer they couldn’t attack you properly.

Shoji: So what you are saying is… Minato survived because Kaori basically fucked the guy’s hand up?

Minato: Seems like it, but what I don’t understand is why they never really finished me off…

Asuka: Oh come on, Minato! There must be a reason why the killer didn’t come back to kill you off.

Minato: ‘ _She’s right… I just gotta think of a reason why…_ ’

~Hangman’s Gambit:

-P__Y_I_G _E_D-

“Wait a moment…”

-PLAYING DEAD-

“It’s all coming together!”

*BREAK!*

Minato: The reason why the killer didn’t come after me is because they thought I was already dead!

Minato: I remember getting a kick to the side of the head from the fucker, maybe they thought that was the killing blow.

Celeste: That would count for the smear of blood on the side of the closet; your head was hit in two spots according to Takeshi’s autopsy of your body.

Minato: ‘ _Damn you are making it sound like I was going to die for sure…_ ’

Katsuya: Ok so we figured out that Minato wasn’t the killer, but where does that get us!?

Katsuya: Besides how do you even know that Kaori used the fire Extinguisher on the killer? It’s an interesting theory but it doesn’t hold up at all here.

Minato: I know because I saw her use it!

Katsuya: Interesting to say the least… But how about this! If the killer by some chance did ambush you, how would they have been able to get in the room in the first place!?

Minato: ‘ _Ugh this guy… I gotta find a way to break through his argument and fast or else I’m fuckin’ toast here!_ ’

~Non-Stop Debate 3~

~Present your evidence~

~Truth Bullets Available:

  * Justice Robo Head.
  * Minato’s Missing Tie.
  * Monokuma File 3.



Katsuya: Now, Minato… Why don’t you **enlighten all of us**?

Katsuya: How did the killer get into the room in the first place?

Kenji: What the hell are you **talking about** , Katsuya?

Kenji:  What does this have to do with anything at all?

Asuka: Yeah I have to agree here…

Asuka: **How did the killer get into the room**?

Meiko: Oh I got it!

Meiko: **This piece of red fabric might have the answer**!

Minato: Yes I agree with that!

*Consent with: Meiko Nakashima*

[Truth Bullet fired: Minato’s Missing Tie.]

*BREAK!*

Minato: Let’s see that piece of red fabric that you have?

Meiko: Sure thing!

And with that she tossed it to him and Minato took a long look at it, then it finally kicked in. This was a piece of his own tie that he used to keep the killer out by tying the door handle to the potted plant beside the door as a last ditch effort to keep the killer out, he looked down at the orange and blue arrowed tie he lifted up the front of it and compared it to the tail on the back. Minato realized that this was the part that held the knot together on his failed attempt to save them both.

Pocketing the piece of his tie, he looked down and started to fiddle around with the end of his own tie. This whole thing was starting to get confusing, with Katsuya’s sudden butting in on their debates and throwing the blame around on putting the blame on other students. It was like Celeste said; he was indeed trying to save his own skin from something. But half the class started to realize that when Kenji called out to Minato.

Kenji: Hey, Minato…  Katsuya’s acting a bit strange huh…

Minato: Now that you mention it, yeah he is for some reason.

Minato: OI KATSUYA!

Katsuya: What do you want?”

Minato: You’ve been acting awfully suspicious during this trial…

Minato: What’s your problem suddenly man?

Katsuya: My problem!? You want to know what my problem is!?

Katsuya: My wrist is hurting like crazy and I just want this damn trial to end so I can rest!

Minato: Wait… Your wrist…?

Katsuya: I said nothing! Now shut your fat mouth before I shove my fist down your throat!

Celeste: You seem to be very defensive about your little wrist problem there…

Celeste: It’s almost as if you were the one who attacked Minato and Kaori and she broke it using the fire extinguisher.

Katsuya: Heh that’s an interesting theory you got there you damn witch!

Katsuya: How about I burn you at the fuckin’ stake for throwing pointless theories around!

Celeste: Ah yes a stake… I believe I was burned at one during one of my many past lives…

Minato: ‘ _Geez and here I thought she was above the whole ‘past lives’ stuff…_ ’

Katsuya: Wait… What about her last words?

Minato’s head suddenly turned towards Katsuya and realized what he had meant, Kaori Suou’s last words she said to them all. He closed his eyes and saw Kaori’s half dazed face looking up at him with tears in her eyes, he wanted to reach out and wipe them away but her last words suddenly came into focus again. “K…Kats…u…” Minato flinched when he heard her voice ring in his ears, but he could only pin the blame on two people at this point.

Katsuya: She was obviously talking about, Kenji Katsuragi!

Kenji: WHAT THE FUCK!? NO SHE DIDN’T!

Kenji: Besides I had a solid alibi last night! And I even saw you moments before I entered my own room!

Kenji: And Meiko, Matsu, and Toji can vouch for me! Since I said good night to them even after I said good night to you!

Minato: So it seems the only person we can blame is him now…

Select someone-

  * **Minato Shirogane.**
  * **Celestia Ludenberg.**
  * **Kenji Katsuragi**
  * **Kaori Suou.**
  * **Meiko Nakashima.**
  * **Toji Kuzunoha.**
  * **Shoji Suzuhara.**
  * **Matsumoto Kishinuma.**
  * **Shinji Morishige.**
  * **Yukari Morishige.**
  * **Shinichi Nakamura.**
  * **Asuka Yoshida.**
  * **> >> [[Katsuya Ikari]].**
  * **Takeshi Narukami.**
  * **Hikari Shinohara.**
  * **Akira Hohaku.**
  * **Eikichi Takeba.**
  * **Mitsuru Shishido.**
  * **Seiko Yasuhiro.**



-You’re the only one!-

-Complete!-

Minato: Katsuya… If it wasn’t Kenji, then the only other person with the ‘Katsu’ part in their name is you!

Katsuya: Didn’t I tell you to shut your damn mouth!

Minato: Fine then, if it comes to this then so be it.

~Non-Stop debate 4~

~Present your evidence! ~

~Truth Bullets Available:

  * Justice Robo Costume head.
  * Location of Justice Robo Head.
  * Minato’s Missing Tie.
  * Killer’s Unique Shoes.



Celeste: Ok so let’s say that the killer used something to **hide their identity** …

Celeste: What would they use?

Matsu: Did they use a **hockey mask**?

Matsu: Nah doubt it…

Akira: Oh I got it!

Akira: What if they used a **Genocider Syo mask**!

Asuka: Nah that would’ve been too obvious really…

Katsuya: Well the **Justice Robo head was in the pool last time I checked**.

Meiko: Well I do **have a mask that Hikari gave me** …

Meiko: But sadly it’s not the one that we can use for this case…

Celeste: Minato… You heard him right, he made one crucial mistake here…

Minato: ‘ _She’s right… How did ‘he’ know the location of the mask…_?’

~Repeat~

Celeste: Ok so let’s say that the killer used something to **hide their identity** …

Celeste: What would they use?

Matsu: Did they use a **hockey mask**?

Matsu: Nah doubt it…

Akira: Oh I got it!

Akira: What if they used a **Genocider Syo mask**!

Asuka: Nah that would’ve been too obvious really…

Katsuya: Well the **_Justice Robo head was in the pool last time I checked_**.

Minato: Hold it right there!

~Truth Bullet Fired: Location of Justice Robo mask~

Minato: How did you… How did you know about the Justice Robo suit?

Katsuya: What’re you talking about!?

Minato: The only ones who knew about the suit and its location was me, Matsu and Kenji.

Minato: Unless you were stalking me and Matsu, then you would’ve know where the suit was hidden!

Katsuya: Damn it!

Minato: It seems that case is closed… Shall I go through the events of what happened the night before!?

~Closing Argument~

Minato began to piece together the events of the night before, every single detail that he could remember and all the pieces of evidence that he could use to help him convict Katsuya.

“HERE’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!”

Last night, Kaori and I planned to meet in the Rec Room after hours because I wanted to test out that TV in there. After we both gathered my stuff from my room we both headed up there, but we both had this unsettling feeling that someone was watching and following us. Of course we just thought it was Matsu trying to pull a prank on us so we just shrugged it off for now.

While we were setting everything up, the killer grabbed pieces of the Justice Robo suit and made their way to the art room. There they used whatever art supplies they could find and the killer defaced the Justice Hammers and prepared for their attack. Meanwhile Kaori and I were playing games and that’s when we heard someone banging on the Rec Room door, looking out the door’s window we saw the Justice Robo head looking back at us so we panicked and tried to keep the bastard out. While we were finding more ways to help ourselves and realizing that I was wearing the orange and blue arrow tie, I used my normal tie to keep the door shut which didn’t work. The killer reached his hand inside of the room but Kaori came charging with a Fire Extinguisher and almost broke their wrist.

However the killer busted their way in and I pushed Kaori outta the way so I could take the first blow for her. With the killer’s broken wrist they couldn’t deal a finishing blow to me. So I told her to run away and she did. But while she had limited places to go and with the killer hot on her trail, she decided to hide in the art supply closet for as long as she could but she was eventually caught and killed Kaori with a smash to the head using the Justice Hammer. The killer would later pretend that their injuries were caused by something else and would hide among us hoping to never get caught… However we have the bastard cornered and that bastard is…

“Katsuya Ikari! You were the one who killed Kaori Suou!”

*BREAK!*

Minato: It’s best to give up now! We have you cornered!

Katsuya: …Ahaha… me… Cornered by you..?

Katsuya: WHAT A FUCKING JOKE!

Katsuya: THERE’S NOTHING ELSE THAT YOU CAN SAY THAT WILL PROVE THAT I’M THE KILLER!

Minato: You… You are still going against the facts… Well then… Allow me to retort!

~P.T.A~

~Truth Bullets Available:

  * Justice Robo Head
  * Location of Justice Robo Head.



~Fuse the two Truth Bullets?

  * **> >> [[Yes]]**
  * No.



~Truth Bullet Fusion set: Justice Robo Head & Location of Justice Robo Head~

-The Moment of truth!-

Katsuya: Shut your mouth!

Katsuya: You have nothing else to say!

Katsuya: All your evidence is worthless!

Katsuya: There’s nothing else!

~Tempo Up~

Katsuya: Just give it up!

Katsuya: I will add you to my hitlist after this!

Katsuya: You are going to fail anyways!

Katsuya: You can’t win!

~Tempo Up~

Katsuya: You are foolish!

Katsuya: I will kill you after this!

Katsuya: I will finish the job fully this time!

~Deal the final blow! ~

Katsuya: **There’s no evidence that you have that will prove that I was wearing the damn Robot mask**!

Minato: No that’s wrong!

~Truth Bullet Fired: Justice Robo Head & Location of Justice Robo Head~

-BREAK!-

Minato: Do you have anything else to say?

Katsuya: …No… I will give up now… I killed… her…

~Trial End~

Everyone all looked at Katsuya and those who were standing near him backed away, Minato left his stand and walked over to him. The silence in the courtroom was so heavy that the sound of a falling pin would make everyone jump out of their skin; Minato just glared daggers at Katsuya and clenched his fists. “Why… Why did you kill her!? Tell me you bastard!” Minato shouted and with one quick punch, he hit Katsuya on the side of his face and the Hitman leant on the stand and looked at Minato from the corners of his eyes. All the students gasped when they saw Minato hit Katsuya like that, but all the Hitman did was stand up straight and sighed.

“Minato… I would explain it now but…” He walked over to the larger student, grabbed his hand and placed something in it. Looking down at the object, he saw that it was a key ring that had Katsuya’s name on it and another small key on the same ring. “The smaller one is for something on the second floor and the bigger one is for my room, you will find something of interest there…” He paused for a moment and sighed once more. “Only go there when you really need it, because you know… The Bear is watching…”

The gamer looked up at Katsuya and shook his head, but if it was going to help then get closer to something then he would take it. When Minato pocketed the key ring, Katsuya gave a sigh of relief and turned away from his fellow students. “Minato, everything will be answered soon enough… You know something…” Katsuya added while Minato tilted his head and looked at him, the Hitman sighed and chuckled. “You really do deserve your last name… Shirogane… a famous lineage of Detectives, only second to the Kirigiri Family… Your title should’ve been the Super High School Level Private Investigator instead of Gamer…” Katsuya smiled and looked at Minato, the gamer looked and Katsuya and turned his head away. “Minato… All the answers you want, they are in my room… Don’t forget that ok.”

Katsuya chuckled to himself and turned to Monokuma, a grim look settled on his face. “There’s no need to vote, I killed Kaori Suou in cold blood and I deserve to atone for my sins while trapped in this school and whatever killings I committed out there too in the past.” Monokuma who fell asleep suddenly woke up and looked down at Katsuya, the bear started laughing his  signature ‘Upupupu~’ and pulled out a tiny mallet, the button rose out of the ground and Katsuya turned towards his fellow students as Monokuma slammed the button.

“I’m sorry we had to meet again like this… I hope to see each and every single one of you guys in our next lives… Until then, I bid you all adieu… Especially you… Minato Shirogane.”

[[Katsuya Ikari had been found guilty, time for the execution to commence!]]

-Execution: 1 Million Man Melee-

Katsuya was placed in a large room while surrounded by an army of Monokumas, he grabbed whatever weapons he could use that were scattered among the room and began taking them all out one by one. He drop kicked one of them and tore off one of the Monokuma’s arms and used it as a weapon against a couple of them before resorting back to using his trademark pistols that were hidden under his coat, seeing two Monokumas appear with Tommy Guns. The Hitman ran through the baragge of bullets firing his pistols rapidly until one of the bullets came in contact with his shoulder and he nearly tripped.

But one of them would hit him square in the chest where he dropped his pistols and turned his head towards the gazing students, seeing Minato look at him. Katsuya only smiled before the Monokumas opened fire on him once more, and filling his body with bullets. Falling forward the only sight they save of Katsuya was a smile of content as if he had been released from his pain; he had mentioned before that he wanted to go down in a fire fight if needed.

-Execution end-

Everyone all watched as Katsuya’s body disappeared from view, Minato turned away from the scene and left the group. Pushing past Kenji and Celeste and even ignoring Monokuma who was laughing at the result of the execution, everyone soon followed him and they all made their way to the dining hall. The remaining 13 students all gathered in the hall and tried to make some talk but most of them all retired to their rooms in wake of the events of the trial. Minato was the first who went to his room and sat on his bed, he didn’t even say good night to any of his friends and he didn’t want to be around them. After hearing the Monokuma announcement that it was night time and that they are to stay in their rooms, about an hour after that he heard someone knocking on his door.

Getting up and crossing the small mess that he, Kaori, Matsu, Shoji, Toji and Shinji made when they all crashed in his room all the previous nights before. Minato opened the door and saw Celeste standing there looking at him with a worried look on her face, “Would you like to accompany me on a walk?” Minato nodded and locked his door, rolling up his sleeve on his dress shirt the two began to talk about miscellaneous stuff and the events of the trial. The duo entered the Dining hall and both sat down and continued talking to each other, in the middle of their conversation about life after leaving the academy. Celeste interrupted him and looked down at her hands, “I’m sorry for asking this… But would you mind getting me a drink…?”

Minato nodded and chuckled, “So Kaori… Oh… I mean, Celeste… Do you want a soda?” He asked but she shook her head and looked down, Minato felt like he fucked up because he called her Kaori. But she looked up at him and smiled.

“No… Could you make me a cup of Milk Tea? I haven’t had a cup in a long time sadly…” She asked and the gamer nodded, in no time flat he returned with the cup of Milk Tea and a can of cola, the two of them began drinking their own drinks in complete silence. When she took a sip of the Milk Tea, her eyes lit up with surprise and she smiled at him. “I didn’t know that you could make Milk Tea? Why this is the best cup I’ve had so far…”

Minato smiled and took a swig of his cola, “It’s nothing really… My grandfather, he used to work late at night and he loved Milk Tea. So me and my sister would make a nice steaming cup of it and leave it out for him when he came home…” He sighed with nostalgia and looked down at his body; he completely forgot that he was still wearing that Orange tie with the blue arrow. Celeste noticed it too and giggled at him.

“That tie fits you, Minato… It’s like it was made for you, I wonder who the pervious own was?” She asked but he shook his head and began to take it off, but Celeste stopped him and held his hand. “You should keep it, it seems like a good luck charm, besides you were wearing it when you got hit over the head by Katsuya… So if you hold onto it, maybe some more luck will come your way… Anyways, just looking at it fills me with a sort of nostalgia like I saw this in a past life of mine.” She added and Minato smirked.

“Ya mean the same life where ya got burned at the stake?” He started laughing but she hit him in the shoulder lightly and began to giggle along with his laughter, she replied ‘Maybe that tie was from your past life where you got hit with a hammer!’ but Minato didn’t seemed annoyed by that comment at all. The two continued to talk throughout the evening and when Kenji was going to grab something to drink. He watched from behind the doors that they were holding hands and talking while drinking their own drinks and laughing at the jokes that Minato said.

The Lucky Student smiled and left the two to continue to talk to each other, he was happy that Minato could finally move on and find someone else to talk too. Closing his door, he heard both of them walking down the hall before saying good night to each other and entering their own rooms. Kenji laid down on his bed and drifted off to sleep knowing that one of his best friends had finally found some peace after this trial.

Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can’t possibly despair this much!?: End.

Remaining Students:

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane.
  4. Celestia Ludenberg.
  5. Toji Kuzunoha.
  6. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  7. Shoji Suzuhara.
  8. Shinji Morishige.
  9. Yukari Morishige.
  10. Asuka Yoshida.
  11. Akira Hohaku.
  12. Takeshi Narukami.
  13. Mitsuru Shishido.



Remaining Adults:

  * Saeko Yasuhiro.



Deceased Students:

  1. Hikari Shinohara.
  2. Eikichi Takeba.
  3. Shinichi Nakamura.
  4. Kaori Suou.
  5. Katsuya Ikari.



~13/18 students plus one adult remain~


	11. Chapter 4: The monster among us, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13 students remain as things start getting tense now, now with the fourth floor open who will killed this time and who would be the killer?

Yawning, Kenji Katsuragi looked at his ceiling for a good twenty minutes. He had been woken up by the Monokuma announcement but didn’t bother to get out of bed, until he once again heard banging on his door. This time it was Akira “Hey Kenji! Get yer ass out here and hurry up! Monokuma says he has an announcement!” And with that he finally got out of bed, put on his sweater and left his room.

When he opened his door, he saw Minato and the two began to make small talk. Kenji was extra careful not to mention the events of the previous trial to him, but Minato brought it up anyways. The Lucky Student was surprised how well his fellow student was taking it, but Minato explained that Kaori wouldn’t want him to feel depressed or have regrets about what happened but after saying all that, Kenji saw that Minato still had this look in his eyes that he was still feeling regrets about Kaori and that he condemned, Katsuya to his death.

The duo entered the dining hall and saw that the group was looking considerably smaller, even though that there were 13 of them left including the Professor. It still looked smaller than before. Both of them sat down in their own seats and began to eat the breakfast that Professor Saeko had made for the students, while they all were eating. The group saw Monokuma pop up and land on the plate of toast that was in front of Minato and Matsu, the two of them glared at the bear and grumbled something about ‘Bastard ruined out toast…’ but Monokuma ignored the two of them and turned his attention to the rest of the group.

“Upupupu~ well now that you guys have completed another class trial… I’ve decided to open up another floor for you all to explore!” Everyone dropped what they were doing and this caused a chorus of utensils hitting plates or in Askua’s case, completely dropping her plate on the floor and breaking it. The remaining 13 got up and dashed out of the dining hall to the fourth floor, Monokuma once again looked saddened that the students hadn’t said anything to him again regarding the newest floor opening up. He laughed and disappeared while the Professor had a worried look on her face and followed the remaining 13 students.

 The group reached the fourth floor and split up once more, Kenji ignored the bathrooms and saw Mitsuru, Akira, Meiko and Shoji walking down a long hallway. Looking down at his e-handbook, he saw that they were headed towards the music room. Kenji followed them and entered the room along with them, looking around he saw that a large Piano was on the stage with a microphone beside it. He smiled for a moment and thought that they all should hold a karaoke night after all this was said and done, but his smiled faded once more when he came to the realization that all this might not end at all soon. Turning his head he saw Shoji and remembered the laptop that he was working on a couple days ago.

“Hey Shoji… how goes with the decryption on the laptop?” Kenji asked, the hacked looked at him and smiled. He looked relieved that someone remembered the laptop, Shoji sat down on one of the many benches in the room and Kenji walked over to the bench and looked down at Shoji. The hacker sighed and chuckled before opening his mouth.

“It’s going good actually, it’s like there’s some other software trying to break though too. So it’s making the job ten times easier… I’m estimating it to be done within a couple days… So about hmmm…” Shoji paused for a moment and thought to himself, he snapped his fingers and looked up at him. “Ah yes it should be done in a couple of days like I said, but I can’t push it anymore sadly. If I did chances are it would probably shut down or I would lose data, so please be patient dude.” Shoji said before he turned his attention away from Kenji and he pulled out his e-handbook and began fiddling around with it.

Kenji sighed and left Shoji with his e-handbook, he noticed that the girls were talking about something else so he decided to ignore them and made his way to the teacher’s lounge. Looking around he saw that Minato, Celeste, Matsu and Toji were looking through the desks and other stuff, but they all gave up and gathered around this strange looking chair that was in the center of the room. Minato walked up and kicked it but Monokuma appeared and yelled at him, “Hey what’re you doing!? That is an expensive massage chair!”

The five of them looked confused and Monokuma sighed, “It’s great for getting rid of that kink in your back! I’ll leave you guys to experiment with it upupupu~” The bear laughed and disappeared again, Minato plopped down on the chair and gave a relaxed sigh, everyone was still cautious about the chair but Matsu noticed the control panel beside it and pressed a button where it started to vibrate and the gamer sighed once more.

“Ah this is the life~ But this chair is much better than the one in the Rec Room~” Minato exclaimed and the group chuckled slightly at the gamer and the chair, but Matsu on the other hand saw that there were more buttons on the panel and pressed another one. But everyone then heard Minato bursting out with laughter as they all saw feathers pop out of the back of the chair and Matsu panicked, he tried pressing random buttons but a bunch of hands popped out the side holding feathers or various other tickling instruments. Kenji pushed Matsu to the side and also began pushing random buttons but by that point the hands tried to grab on to Minato who was laughing so hard because he was getting tickled by everything the chair had to offer.

But their saving grace was Asuka came running in and kicked the control panel where it sparked and Celeste and Toji grabbed the gamer and pulled him out of the machine before it got any worse, by that point however everyone appeared and saw the chair with arms, feathers and whatever else that could be used for tickling torture. Minato who was panting looked at the chair and sighed, Matsu walked over to him and patted him on the back the two of them chuckled and said “I’ve seen enough uncut shit to know where that was headed…”

Asuka sighed and shouted at the group, “Alright! This chair is clearly evil, who votes to shut this thing in the psychics room supply closet for good? Say Aye if you agree!” And everyone raised their hands and shouted ‘Aye!’ they all grabbed the chair and took it down to the third floor and locked it in the supply closet where Asuka locked the door from the inside and Toji marked the door with one of his spray cans that said: “DO NOT ENTER!” and everyone returned to the dining hall after the tickle chair fiasco.

In the dining hall, everyone went over the layout of the floor and the professor laid out the plan for them to explore and search the floor for the next couple days. That evening when everyone returned to their rooms, Kenji saw Minato standing outside Katsuya’s room holding the key that was given to him. Minato turned his head slightly and saw Kenji looking at him with a concerned look on his face, but all that Minato did was smile and went to his own room.

The sixteenth day came and everyone gathered in the dining hall, after breakfast the group was split up into smaller groups again by the professor. Kenji was paired with, Minato, Toji, Mitsuru and Shoji the group was tasked with searching the chemistry room, the group began their search by looking through various spots in the room. When Toji was carrying some boxes to one of the tables he turned his head and noticed that the glass in the chemical cabinet was broken, he tapped Minato’s shoulder and pointed it out to him.

“Hey man… That cabinet, was it broken the last time we were here?” The street artist asked, but Minato only shook his head and shrugged. Toji also shrugged and returned to looking through the boxes, Shoji on the other hand walked over to the chemical cabinet and began looking through it. As he was looking through the bottles he noticed that a bottle was out of place.

“Huh, that’s strange…” Shoji muttered as Kenji and Mitsuru walked over to him and asked what’s wrong, the Hacker pulled out a bottle from the nutrient cabinet and turned it over. It was labeled ‘Poison C-9’ he panicked and dropped it the moment he read the label, Minato and the others turned their heads and came over to the scene that Shoji was making. Shoji sighed and began to clean it up but Minato stopped him.

Getting down on his knees, Minato placed the tip of his index finger in the white powder and licked it off. Everyone gasped and Kenji grabbed his shoulders and shook him while asking if he had a death wish, but Minato chuckled and pushed the lucky student’s arms off his shoulders. “Well I can confirm it’s not poison.” He began but Mitsuru cut him off midsentence and asked what really was in that poison bottle.

“I was going to get to that before you interrupted me… It’s not poison like I said, it’s only protein powder you guys…“ He added and most of them all sighed with relief, Mitsuru on the other hand glared coldly towards Minato and walked out of the room away from her fellow students. The others just ignored her since they were used to her just up and leaving in the middle of investigating, but Kenji decided to follow her and get an explanation why she seemed so cold and distant.

Running after her and ignoring the group that had Celeste, Shinji, Yukari, Asuka and Meiko that was investigating the two classrooms and narrowly avoiding a box being thrown out the classroom door, he finally caught up to Mitsuru and sighed. She turned around and also glared at Kenji “What’s your problem suddenly? Why don’t you stop being self-absorbed and try to help us for once?” Kenji asked but all that the heiress did was sigh and turn her gaze away from him, she looked over to the door that lead to the locked ‘Data Processing room’

The Heiress then turned towards Kenji and moved her red hair out of her eyes and crossed her arms, “Remember what I told you before? When we were in the library and I was reading the case files of Genocider Syo?” Mitsuru asked and Kenji thought for a moment before flashing back to the eighth day that they were all trapped in the academy, her words echoed in the back of his mind. “ _Kenji… Now listen to me… I don’t hate any of you, it’s just that… You shouldn’t try and get to ‘know’ me; you would be very disappointed if you did… Farewell, Kenji Katsuragi_.”

Kenji growled slightly and glared back at Mitsuru, “What do you even mean by not getting to know you? What are you hiding from the rest of us?” He asked but all that Mitsuru did was turn around and walk away from him, but as she was about to descend the stairs she turned around and only said one more thing before leaving them.

“It’s for the best… The things I could tell you would put you through the deepest pits of despair…”

She disappeared after that and the remaining students didn’t see her again for the rest of the evening, that day ended rather quickly but also ended on a high note when Shoji announced that his decryption software would be complete by tomorrow evening and they can finally use the laptop.

When the next morning started, the professor was exhausted and told the students that they all can freely explore the academy if they wished. Kenji looked around for Mitsuru but saw that she wasn’t with the rest of them so he guessed that she barricaded herself in her room like Katsuya did for two days, he decided to search the full length of the fourth floor. But as he passed by the Rec Room he saw that Minato, Celeste and Asuka were looking around the room, he entered it and saw that they gathered around the Magazine rack.

They began to flip through various magazines and Kenji went over to the rack too and picked up one up, he flipped through it before coming to a page with the words ‘Fukawa’ was written in blood. Kenji dropped the magazine in shock and Celeste picked it up, she looked at the page then looked at him. “Fukawa…? Why does that name sound familiar…?” She asked and Asuka grabbed it from Celeste and looked at the magazine, her eyes widened with shock as she looked at the name.

“Toko Fukawa… She’s the Super High School Level Literary Girl, however I met her once at a book signing event when I released my first book and she wasn’t the best company to have around…” Asuka muttered as she tossed the magazine to the side, they all departed the Rec Room but Toko’s name kept popping up in Kenji’s head. Did this Fukawa girl really attend Hope’s Peak Academy? And why haven’t they seen her yet?

The day continued rather slowly but by that point everyone had given up, they had completely trashed the fourth floor looking for the key but nothing popped up. Not even a hint or anything else. But when the students had gathered in the Dining hall for some much needed dinner, Shoji popped his head in and shouted at the others. “Hey guys! Meet me in the baths; there are no cameras there so I wanted to show you all the last few moments before the decryption software finishes!” Everyone soon followed and they all gathered in the baths.

Shoji grabbed a small desk from one of the classrooms on the first floor and placed the small laptop on it, typing a few commands in the computer the little AI Shoji began to chip away at the remaining bits of the black screen before it lit up with a light green color before the bust of someone appeared on the screen. The picture finally cleared up and the face of a girl appeared on the screen, everyone except Mitsuru jumped back from the screen. Mastu and Minato held onto each other while Shoji worked up the courage to walk back up to the laptop to get a better look of the girl who appeared, his jaw dropped and he sputtered out. “C-Chihiro F-Fujisaki…? That’s Chihiro!”

Everyone looked confused; Minato pushed Matsu off him and stood beside Shoji. “So that chick there is Chihiro? She was a computer program the entire time!?” He asked but the Hacker shook his head, the program looked at the students and smiled but when it looked at Minato its eyes fixated on the orange tie he was wearing. Its expression fell and it looked saddened at the sight of the tie.

“Oh… you are wearing his… No never mind, you aren’t him anyways…” It said and the others looked confused, Minato pushed Shoji out of the way and typed in ‘Wait… Who are you talking about?’ but the AI shook its head and averted its gaze away from him.

“It’s nothing… I will explain more when we all aren’t being watched.” It said and Minato was pushed out of the way by Shoji who began to type out one sentence.

“Who are you? Are you Chihiro Fujisaki?”

The AI shook its head and looked at Shoji,

“No I’m not my master, my name is Alter Ego and I was placed in this computer as a back-up in case anyone else in this school was trapped or left behind.” Alter Ego replied, the 13 students looked shocked and Shoji typed another phrase in the computer.

‘What do you mean? Were there others trapped in here besides us?’

“Before you all were trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy, there was another class trapped in here before you all. But that’s all I have to say for now… My memory databank is taking a while to catch up with me and there are important files on this computer that are being denied access even from me…” Everyone groaned as Alter Ego said this, they had all gotten so far but it all crumbled sooner than ever. But Alter Ego looked at Shinji and smiled at him.

“If you can help me get my data back with your own AI, I’m sure I will be able to open up the files a lot quicker and give you all some information!” Alter Ego added and everyone once again sighed with relief, Shoji nodded and typed in ‘Ok, I will help you starting tonight to get back your data.’ And Alter Ego once again smiled at him.

The group left Shoji as he grabbed his own laptop and began to help Alter Ego regain his memory and to decrypt most of the programs and files on the laptop, everyone returned to their rooms and called it a day.

The next couple days went by fast; of course they all were searching the floors to the best of their abilities and the twins tried to break into the data room but were chased away by Monokuma at the last second. The group hadn’t heard from Shoji much since he was working relentlessly to salvage whatever data Alter Ego had and to help him grant access to certain files, the only time he showed his face to the others is when he was grabbing food or drink from the dining hall. Everyone was getting worried about him so Asuka would stand guard over him and she would call for Takeshi if he collapsed.

After three days of searching and waiting, Shoji finally called the group to the baths one evening as everyone was doing nothing. The group once again gathered in the baths and Alter Ego greeted them all,

“Hello everyone! I’m glad to see that you all are doing well!”

Everyone gathered to greet the little AI but Mitsuru cut them all off.

“So… What have you discovered?” She asked bluntly, Shoji sighed and turned towards Alter Ego and he began to explain what they had discovered.

“So far we have only recovered 50 percent of the files which are mostly images and explanation of the School’s staff and other miscellaneous things… I think you should see images though…” He muttered as Alter Ego brought up the image folder and various images of dead students flashed on the screen, it showed them laughing, talking to each other all while in a classroom. One of the final images showed Minato and Kaori sitting together while she was playing with his PZV, the gamer only looked away from the screen as another image popped up and Matsu gasped before grabbing Minato’s chin and showing him the image that appeared on the screen.

It was both Minato and Matsu with another student who was wearing the same orange coloured tie as Minato; the gamer had both his arms around their shoulders while Matsu and the other student were waving at the camera, all three of them had smiles on their faces and looked like they were enjoying being in each other’s company. Both of the larger students were just as confused as everyone else, Meiko turned to them both and tilted her head. “Did you two go to the same middle school before coming to Hope’s Peak?” She asked and both of them shook their heads.

“I went to Gekkoukan Junior High School…” Minato replied glancing over at the Fashion Diva.

“…I attended Fortune City Middle School before coming here…” Matsu replied also glancing at Meiko.

She sighed and turned away from the duo, Kenji was baffled just as everyone else. What did all these images suggest? Did the others survive somehow and are waiting for them to escape too? It seemed that everyone else was thinking the same thing but Mitsuru only said one thing to them all, “It’s impossible… We saw them all die… They aren’t alive anymore.” She muttered while everyone all looked away from Alter Ego and each other.

“Everyone… Please don’t feel down… With Shoji’s help I will gather more information faster…”

But Kenji this time spoke out to the group, “Alter Ego is right, there’s no need to be discouraged you guys! We just need to let Shoji do his magic and then we can find out more about this twisted school!” He shouted and everyone looked up at him, some smiled while some returned to the dining hall. “Besides let’s all go grab something to eat, I’m sure everyone is hungry and I think the professor is making us something…” He added while everyone except Shoji departed for the dining hall.

As they all were exchanging theories about the photos and even the photo with Matsu, Minato and the hamster looking kid. Dinner was served, but Minato who raised his spoon to his nose threw his spoon down and shouted at everyone. “GUYS! DON’T EAT THIS STUFF!” and everyone stopped and looked at him with a confused look on their faces, but Minato looked at everyone and sighed. “The food… It’s poisoned! Someone is trying to kill us!” He shouted again and just as he was finished, Akira fell over and began to cough violently.

Takeshi dropped what he was doing and ran over to her side, his face instantly fell and he picked her up and ran with her body. Everyone soon followed along with Shoji who heard Minato shout, the group once again gathered around the door of the infirmary and waited to hear about Akira’s condition. After waiting for at least two hours, Shoji walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He sighed and removed the surgical mask from his face and glanced at all the remaining students and the professor.

“She’s going to be fine… Give her a night in the infirmary and she’ll live, don’t worry I will do my best to keep her on this side of the abyss.” He muttered before entering the infirmary again, everyone after that dispersed to their rooms. Kenji sat on his bed and held his head in his hands, someone nearly attempted to murder them all. He eventually drifted to sleep but the thought of the attempted murder and the photos that Shoji and Alter Ego uncovered kept entering his mind and invading his thoughts.

The next morning, everyone was called to the gym by Monokuma for a special announcement, the remaining 12 students all gathered in the gym as Monokuma popped out of the floor carrying a parasol. However the launch was too powerful for him so he opened the parasol and floated gently to the ground and landed on the podium. The group looked annoyed at his appearance, but Monokuma only laughed and suddenly held his head down.

“I have sad news for all of you… There are two traitors among you, upupupu~” Monokuma said as everyone’s expression’s dropped, all of them began looking at each other and some were exchanging dirty looks towards each other too. Mitsuru walked past Kenji and glared coldly up at Monokuma.

“Who are the traitors?” She asked but all that the bear did was laugh and pointed at her, everyone gasped that they all thought that Monokuma was pointing out that Mitsuru was one of the traitors but he only continued to laugh at her. She growled and pointed back at him, “Tell us now!” The Heiress shouted but Monokuma only sighed and turned away from her.

“Sorry you all will have to figure it out yourselves… It’s not fun if I have to reveal who they are to you guys! Anyways have fun suspecting each other, upupupu~” and with that he disappeared and left the students in a state of doubt and hatred towards each other, most of them retreated back to their rooms or avoided contact with each other. The only two students who were seen together were Shinji and Yukari who decided to train in case they had to fight Monokuma, the only other pair seen together was Minato and Celeste who were exchanging theories about the photos and other things.

Kenji decided to spend the day sleeping in order to avoid suspicion, but when the next morning came around. Nobody calmed down at all; everyone was still throwing dirty looks and glares towards each other. Kenji ignored the others and sat down grabbing a piece of toast, he looked around and noticed that both Akira and Takeshi weren’t in the Dining Hall with them. Taking his toast with him, he went to the infirmary to find Takeshi but only found Akira who was sleeping soundly and regained most of the colour in her face. He smiled and decided to look through the rest of the school for the doctor.

Reaching the fourth floor, he began to look through all the rooms but when he saw the trail of blood on that led to the music room. Kenji ran for it and opened the door, what he saw there made him scream louder than ever before.

Takeshi’s body was laid out on the stage, his hands had been cut up, inserted into his neck was a pair of medical scissors and his tie was tied around his neck. The expression on his face was one of pure terror like he had seen the traitor.

Within moments of hearing Kenji screaming, everyone appeared and they all gasped and some also screamed. Meiko fell on her knees and sobbed at the sight of Takeshi’s dead body, however they all heard the Monokuma body announcement begin to play.

“Attention Students, it seems that a body has been discovered! So now you all will receive a copy of the Monokuma File! You have an hour or two to gather all the evidence you need to help you all in your fourth Class Trial! Happy hunting you guys! Upupupupupu~” Monokuma said happily as all the students looked at each other as Monokuma was laughing, they had no choice at this point. It was either find Takeshi’s killer and the traitor or let them kill once again.


	12. Chapter 4: The monster among us, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now with the gruesome murder of Takeshi Narukami, will the group find all the evidence they need to convict one of their own this time again?

The group carefully walked over to Takeshi’s body, the stench of blood filled the air of the music room. Whoever killed him did it in a brutal way but not as brutal as Hikari’s death, Matsu peered over Minato and Kenji’s shoulders and sputtered out. “Oh great… Who’s gonna do the autopsies now…?” Toji glared at the Otaku and walked over to Takeshi’s body; he looked down at it and sighed.

“Oh why don’t we ask him so he can magically come back to life and tell us who murdered him!?” The Graffiti Artist replied looking right at Matsu, Kenji and Minato but the moment he stopped talking, Toji spoke once more but this time looking right at Takeshi’s body. “Yo Takeshi… Why don’t you tell us who murder you huh? Oh you can’t? Well seems like we are doing this investigation ourselves.” He added while shaking his head and mingling with the group, Kenji glared at Toji and grabbed his e-handbook.

He began to read over the Monokuma File and decided to begin this investigation.

~Investigation Time~

Monokuma File 4:

  * The Victim was Takeshi Narukami.
  * Time of death was around 5:30AM.
  * The body was found in the Music Room at 10:30AM.
  * Cause of death was a pair of medical scissors that was lodged into his throat and there are signs that he was strangled to death.
  * Other than that his hands were cut up and the murder weapon was left at the scene.



~Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 4~

Looking down at the doctor’s body, he bent over and placed a hand on the body’s chin. Turning it the left slightly, he saw the medical scissors and noticed that they were inserted deep into his throat almost to the hilt of the scissors moving the tie from around the doctor’s neck. Kenji saw that around the front of his neck was red, he suggested that the tie was used to strangle and the scissors dealt the finishing blow.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Pair of Medical Scissors~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Red marks around Takeshi’s Neck~

Moving his gaze to Takeshi’s hands, Kenji saw that they were cut up by some sort of blade. Grabbing the doctor’s wrist he began to inspect the wounds on his hands, Takeshi’s fingers were cut badly even Kenji who could stomach the amount of blood he has seen so far gag in repulsion. However something about the way they were cut up seemed off, placing his hands together in prayer the lucky student pulled the scissors out of Takeshi’s neck like how the doctor did for Hikari and placed one of Takeshi’s fingers inside of the blade and closed the scissors lightly. The blade fit the slash marks and Kenji sighed, he had a feeling that he was right about this. It seemed that the killer used the scissors to attack Takeshi and he tried to defend himself using his hands or maybe he tried to nab the blades away from his attacker.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Slashes in Takeshi’s hands~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Pair of Medical Scissors~

Getting up from beside his friend’s body, Minato tapped Kenji on the shoulder and pointed down again. Looking down he saw that there was a strange yellow powder on Takeshi’s pant legs, placing his index finger in the powder and raising it to his lips to taste it like Minato did with the protein powder. But all he heard was “What the hell do you think you are doing!?” followed by a slap to the face from the Gamer.

Holding the side of his face, the lucky student turned his head and gave Minato a highly confused look. “Ow… What was that for!?” Kenji shouted but Minato sighed and also placed his finger in the powder, he rubbed it in between this thumb and middle finger before sniffing it and wiping his hands on his shorts.

“You were about to taste poison you idiot, that yellow stuff… it’s from the chemistry labs.” Minato replied and Kenji’s eyes went wide with surprise, he gazed down at Takeshi’s lower body and wondered to himself. How did Takeshi even come in contact with the poison from the chemistry labs in the first place? More importantly however, why did he have poison on him in the first place?

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s legs~

Deciding that the area was completely free of any other evidence, Kenji decided to enter the Chemistry Lab to find the mysterious poison that Takeshi had on him. Rummaging through the cabinet he noticed that one of the bottles was indeed missing, thinking back on it the bottle that went missing was the same bottle that Minato tested out but it had the protein powder in it. However he noticed that another bottle had also gone missing this time from the chemical cabinet, looking down at the label on the shelf the lucky student noticed that the missing bottle was the one with the yellow poison.

“…It seems that the killer took the poison AND the protein powder, just what were they doing with both bottles in the first place?”

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Chemical Bottle~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Protein Powder~

Hearing someone enter the room, he turned around and saw that Meiko was looking at him from the doorway. “Akira is awake, just barely though… She might’ve seen or heard something last night.” The Fashion Diva muttered, Kenji walked up to her and gave her a reassuring smile before setting off for the Infirmary where their friend was sleeping. Upon reaching the room, he noticed that Matsu and Toji were looking inside when something was thrown at them. Kenji noticed that it was a chair so he opened the door fully to see that she was changing.

“Ah sorry about that, I wanted to ask you something about last night.” He asked, she slipped on her shirt and sighed. Akira then turned around and grabbed two chairs, the body modifier then placed them by one of the desks and sat down where she kicked her feet up on the table and smiled at Kenji.

“Last night you say? Well I do remember something…OF COURSE!” She suddenly shouted, the Lucky Student gave her a confused gaze but she ignored it and continued on with her explanation about the events of the night before. “I was half out of it when Takeshi handed me some sort of a drink, he said that it would help me regain my strength but someone came into the room and told him to stop. He turned around and all I could hear was a struggle going on, I tried to get up but couldn’t… I heard the sound of glass breaking like a cup was knocked on the ground and the sound of scissors being snapped rapidly, it was like… He was trying to fight someone off but the fight was taken to the hallways and I heard someone running up the stairs followed by the other person running after them too.”

Kenji was surprised; someone actually attacked Takeshi while he was trying to help with Akira’s condition.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Akira’s Testimony~

Nodding and recording everything in the small notebook that he had, Kenji decided to investigate the infirmary for any evidence. Walking over to the surgical tools, he noticed that one of the medical scissors was missing. The ones that disappeared were a medium sized pair that sat in between the small pair and another large pair of similar shaped scissors, were those scissors used in Takeshi’s killing?

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Pair of Missing Medical Scissors~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Pair of Medical Scissors ~

Turning his gaze away from the surgical tools, Kenji noticed that there was broken glass on the ground by mini fridge. Picking up a shard of it which looked like the bottom of the cup, he noticed that there was yellow powder caked on the sides of the glass. Pulling his e-handbook out of his pocket, Kenji began to compare the yellow powder and saw that they were identical looking. Meaning that someone was trying to poison someone else again using the glass but was this the glass that Takeshi was going to give to Akira?

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Broken Glass~

Setting the glass down, Kenji placed the shard down on the floor and saw a strangely shaped object inside the trash can. Pulling out said object out of the trash, he saw that it was wrapped in some sort of a glasses wipe cloth/handkerchief covered with blood with an anime girl on it. Reading the title aloud “Heretic… Angel ☆ Mochi… Mochi Princess…? Meh whatever, I’ll give it to either Minato or Matsu since they are into this sort of thing anyways.” He pulled off the cloth and pulled out a small amber coloured bottle. Kenji was looking through the bottle’s opening and saw that there was some yellow powder left inside of the bottle, setting it beside the broken cup he poured whatever was left in the bottle on the table and compared it to the yellow powder that was in the cup, on Takeshi’s pants and in the little bottle.

“That’s strange, that chemical bottle is here… Did Takeshi take the poison for himself…?” Kenji muttered as he noted everything down in his notebook.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Amber coloured Bottle~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Yellow Powder on Takeshi’s Legs~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Missing Chemical Bottle~

Turning on his heel, he left the infirmary and decided to check the kitchen. Maybe there was a connection to Akira’s poisoning and the poison that was on the glass and on Takeshi’s pant legs, upon entering the Dining Hall he noticed that no one was around but the Professor. She saw him and smiled before leaving the room, but she turned around and faced him “Monokuma said to bring whatever evidence was left after the second class trial, he mentioned something about finding the real purpose behind, Shinichi’s death…” and with that she left to join the other students, Kenji just stared at the Professor’s back in confusion.

Pulling out his notebook and flipping to the pages that had all the evidence from past trials and even the evidence that Minato had added when he took control of the third trial, he finally found the evidence from their second trial and memorized it all before stuffing his notebook back in his pocket.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Second Class Trial Evidence~

Entering the kitchen the Lucky Student began to look through the pots and trash, hoping that he could find another piece of evidence that would connect Akira’s poisoning to the poison that he found. However as he was going through the trash, he noticed that one of the pots was thrown in the second trash can beside the sink. Pulling it out he saw that the same yellow powder was caked on the bottom of it too, “So… The culprit cooked that dinner for us and put the poison with the food while we weren’t looking huh…” Kenji muttered as he peered back into the trashcan and saw another amber coloured bottle.

Setting the pot down he reached in the trash and pulled out the bottle, seeing that the powder inside was white he guessed that this was the missing protein bottle that he was looking for. “…So it seems that the culprit tried to use the protein powder and thought it was poison until they found the real bottle of poison… This case is getting more annoying by the second…” Kenji muttered as he set the bottle down and recorded his evidence in the notebook.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Cooking Pot caked with poison~  
~Truth Bullet Updated:

The Lucky Student then heard one of the screens switch on and Monokuma appeared on it, “Upupupu~ alright I hope you gathered all your evidence since the Class Trials will begin immediately! Please make your way to the big red doors on the first floor, see you all there!” He said in a happy tone of voice that was grating to the ears, Kenji sighed and quickly left the kitchen where he ran into Meiko. The two silently made their way to the large doors where the remaining 13 students all stood around and waited for the elevator to arrive

When it finally did arrive, the students all shuffled on it as Kenji slammed his hand down on the button and the Professor closed the doors behind them all. He looked around at his fellow classmates and wondered who the traitors could be, was one of them already dead? Or are they hiding among the remaining students waiting to strike at any moment? Kenji pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as the elevator descended lower and lower into the school.

“ _A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own again… This is a game of life and death! Let’s end this trial_.”


	13. Chapter 4: The monster among us, Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the group has found all their evidence, who will live and who will be the one executed in the fourth class trial?

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, the remaining 13 students climbed out of it and looked around. The courtroom changed to a room that resembled a classroom, there were desks lined up around the stands that made everyone feel uneasy. It was like the deceased students were sitting at the desks and they were all watching them, they all walked up to their podiums and Monokuma popped out of the ground and landed on the judge’s chair. He laughed as all he gazed down at all the remaining students; they all ignored him for the most part.

Kenji gazed over to where Takeshi used to stand he closed his eyes and thought for a moment about his deceased friend, “Takeshi Narukami wasn’t a person I could really call a friend, but he looked out for us and managed to save two of us from near death. All that time I spent with the guy hanging out and searching the school, I don’t regret it because he would share his medical knowledge with us… His killer is among us now and I have to point them out before we all get executed!”

Kenji then pulled out his e-handbook and notebook and prepared himself for their fourth class trial.

Monokuma: “Alright here are the rules of the class trial! If you can figure out ‘who dunnit’ then the blackened will get executed! However if you fail to expose the blackened you all will get punished instead!”

Asuka: “Would you kindly shut the fuck already!? We know that part you son of a bitch!”

Mitsuru: “Ignoring her for a moment… Why did you make an announcement that we should bring all evidence from our second class trial to this one?”

Minato: “Yeah that’s a good question, I thought we ruled out that Shinichi’s death was an accidental one!”

Monokuma: “Oh well it turns out that it was not an accidental death at all! It was all a big misunderstanding because you see… Shinichi Nakamura was murdered by one of you guys!”

Monokuma: “But the killer obviously hid their tracks very well, we both came to an agreement that if you guys couldn’t find out whom the killer was you all would’ve lived anyways and the true killer would’ve been set free to kill once again!”

Kenji: “Will you get to the damn point already!?”

Monokuma: “Oh alright… You see, Shinichi’s killer was one of the two traitors that I mentioned before but you will have to find out who the killer is upupupu~”

Matsu: “W-What!? I thought we were trying to find, Takeshi’s killer! Not a killer from two trials ago!”

Toji: “Yes… Matsu does have a point y’know… Why should we worry about a killer from two flipping trials ago?”

Monokuma: “Ah you see… The killer will surprise you guys indeed, upupupu~”

Kenji: “ _Ugh… he’s obviously not going to reveal who Shinichi’s killer is, so it seems that we have to figure it out ourselves_!”

~Truth Bullets:

  1. Monokuma File 4
  2. Pair of Medical Scissors.
  3. Red Marks around Takeshi’s neck.
  4. Slashes in Takeshi’s Hands.
  5. Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s legs.
  6. Missing Chemical Bottle.
  7. Missing Protein Powder.
  8. Akira’s Testimony.
  9. Pair of Missing Medical Scissors.
  10. Broken Glass.
  11. Amber coloured Bottle.
  12. Second Class Trial Evidence pack.
  13. Cooking Pot caked with poison.



“Let’s begin the trial!”

~Non-stop debate 1~

-Present your evidence-

  1. Monokuma File 4
  2. Second Class Trial Evidence Pack.
  3. Missing Protein Powder.



Celeste: “Who was the one who killed, Takeshi…?”

Matsu: “How the hell should we know!?”

Matsu: “I bet you anything it was probably, Katsuya!”

Asuka: “It would be the most logical choice… After all he did kill someone else before…”

Minato: “…But I don’t think that it could’ve been him…”

Minato: “It’s had to be in the evidence… After all there was something missing from the crime scene, don’t you guys remember!”

Matsu: “What are you talking about?”

Minato: “It ain’t hard to figure out what was missing **if you look at the evidence closely**!”

Kenji: “Yes I agree with that!”

~Truth Bullet Fired: Second Class Trial Evidence Pack~

-Consent with: Minato Shirogane-

-Break!-

Kenji: “Minato is 100% right about that.”

Kenji: “There was something missing from the crime scene… And that was the medicine ball from the weight room!”

Shoji: “Wait hold up… Are you saying that the medicine ball was the object that killed Shinichi?”

Shoji: “How can that be!?”

Minato: “It isn’t hard to figure it out, after all… The gash in Shinichi’s head is a circular shape; Takeshi got that wrong in his autopsy.”

Minato: “Remember what he said during his autopsy you guys.”

-Flashback-

Takeshi:  “ _There’s blunt force trauma to Shinichi’s head and his lungs are filled with water, which I can guess that he drowned after he was either thrown in the pool or pushed. I’m guessing that he hit his head on something and fell inside the pool, I remember he said he couldn’t swim so whoever killed him must have used that to their advantage_.”

-Flashback end-

Minato: “Takeshi said that Shinichi hit his head and fell inside the pool, however when looking at it closely he didn’t really say what killed Shinichi in the first place.”

Mitsuru: “Ah I see what you are getting at, when we said that he must have hit his head on the side of the pool and fell in…”

Meiko: “He just went along with what we said… So does that mean that…?”

Minato: “I’m afraid so… Takeshi Narukami was the one who killed Shinichi Nakamura!”

Kenji: “So what you are saying… Is that Takeshi killed Shinichi while he was trying to swim by smashing the side of his head in with a medicine ball and he purposely gave us a fake autopsy to cover his trail!?”

Minato: “That’s where this seems to be headed actually… I hate to admit it but… I think Takeshi was one of the traitors that Monokuma told us about…”

Everyone then turned their heads towards Monokuma; the bear woke up and nodded at the group.

Monokuma: “Yeeeeeep, Takeshi Narukami was one of the traitors among the group and he killed Shinichi in cold blood. He even covered his trail to throw you guys off and you all fell for it like a ton of bricks!”

The group gasped and even some stared at Monokuma in disbelief, they couldn’t believe that the only one with medical knowledge was one of the two people who were told to betray everyone else and perform a killing. Kenji gritted his teeth and sighed, it seemed that all the evidence was piling up on Takeshi now and they couldn’t pick him for an execution. But Minato snapped him out of his revere.

Minato: “Now that we know that Takeshi killed Shinichi… I think we should probably move onto the one who executed him.”

Celeste: “Yes I agree with, Minato.”

Toji: “Wait a minute… You seem to be agreeing with him a lot now…”

Toji: “Just what game are you playing with us, Celeste?”

Celeste: “Game…? I assure you that I’m not playing any game with you guys at all, Toji.”

Celeste: “Is it a new rule that I can’t agree with one of my friends?”

Mitsuru: “No one is saying that, it’s how you’ve been acting around him after Kaori died…”

 Mitsuru: “It’s almost like you attached yourself to him.”

Toji: “Exactly! What if you are the other traitor?”

Minato: “Whoa hold up there dude, Celeste can’t be the traitor.”

Minato: “It’s because she isn’t the type to betray any of us at all!”

Toji: “Aw what do you know!? You are probably sticking up for her because she latched herself onto you!”

Toji: “All that we know so far… Is that she might’ve been planning on killing you next!”

Minato: “That’s fucking bullshit and you know it Toji!”

Celeste: “Please stop you two, I swear on my name as Celestia Ludenberg that I wouldn’t dare kill anyone.”

Shoji: “I don’t think that’s your real name to begin with, you claim that you are the daughter of some goddamn European aristocrat which is obviously bullshit to the highest degree.”

Celeste: “Oh is that so…? Well I can assure that I have not been lying about my name or my background the entire time, Shoji.”

Minato: “Alright… You two back the fuck off, she isn’t the traitor because if she was.”

Minato: “She would’ve picked me and Matsu off first probably!”

Kenji: “Minato has to be right… I’ve talked to Celeste myself and there’s no way that she could be the traitor, she doesn’t even seem to the type of person to kill any of us!”

Shoji: “Well I still don’t believe that, Celestia Ludenberg is her real name to be honest.”

Shoji: “I know there’s a way that we can find out her real name!”

Kenji: ‘ _Ugh… Shoji is really determined to find out her real name… But he does have a point…_ ’

Kenji: ‘ _What is everyone’s name plastered on that is on them?_ ’

  * Their Underwear.
  * Their Shoes.
  * **_> >>Their Room Keys and e-handbooks_**.



Kenji: “This must be it!”

Kenji: “Celeste… Your real name would have to be on your Key for your room and on the e-handbook.”

Celeste: “Guh- Yes of course it’s on my e-handbook-“

Minato: “Well tell ‘em, Celeste! Show them that your real name is Celestia Ludenberg!”

Professor Saeko: “…Tell them Kaori…”

Minato: “Huh…? K…aori…?”

Celeste: “I’m sorry Minato but…”

Celeste turned her back to the group and looked up towards the ceiling; Minato leant over his podium and shouted at Celeste. “What is your real name, Celeste!? Tell me man!” She looked down at the floor as she began to undo her twin drills and set them on the podium, Celeste then reached up towards her face and pulled out red coloured contacts and placed them in a contact case. She then turned around with her eyes closed as she opened her eyes and only set them on Minato, he saw that they were a bright green color and his expression slightly dropped as she properly introduced herself.

Celeste: “…My name is Kaori Suo… And my proper title is the Super High School Level Impersonator… I’m sorry for keeping my true identity a secret from all of you…”

Minato: “Y…Yer name is… K-Kaori… Suo…!? T-That’s…”

Celeste: “I’m sorry… Minato… I didn’t want to tell you in case you were bothered by hearing my name…”

Celeste: “I wanted to protect your current state of mind the best I can.”

Minato: “You didn’t need to fucking protect me! I would’ve taken that revelation very well if you just been up front and told me about it!”

Everyone was silent, they didn’t know what to say or they didn’t want to throw their two cents into the conversation. Kenji turned his head away from the two of his friends and gritted his teeth; he didn’t want to see his two friends like this while they are in the middle of a trial however when he looked up at Celeste, he saw that she was putting on her twin drills and inserted her contacts into her eyes. Kenji noticed that she was somewhat on the verge of tears after hearing Minato’s sudden burst of anger, but she looked away from him and gazed down at her podium.

Celeste: “I think we should focus on the task of finding, Takeshi’s killer…”

Mitsuru: “I agree, after all we aren’t going to get anywhere if we are just bickering about this current revelation.”

Toji: “Alright, how about we go over what killed the guy in the first place.”

Kenji: ‘ _Toji’s right… if we don’t find out who his killer is… then we all are boned!_ ’

-Non-Stop debate 2-

-Present your evidence!-

  1. Monokuma File 4
  2. Pair of Medical Scissors.
  3. Red Marks around Takeshi’s neck.
  4. Slashes in Takeshi’s Hands.



Shoji: “Ok… We need to know how **Takeshi died in the first place**.”

Shoji: “Does anyone have a lead at all?”

Mitsuru: “ **Well the tie around his neck might be a clue** …”

Mitsuru: “That or I’m missing something else here.”

Matsu: “What about this…”

Matsu: “What if the killer used a certain method to kill him!?”

Matsu: “I mean the killer obviously killed him somehow!”

Shinji: “I highly doubt that he would’ve used a method to kill someone…”

Shinji: “After all… The killer obviously **would’ve killed him instantly**!”

Kenji: “No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired-: Slashes in Takeshi’s Hands-

Kenji: “Actually Shinji… I’m gonna have to stop you there for a second…”

Kenji: “Yes the killer did kill Takeshi rather easily but take a look at his hands and fingers for a second.”

Shinji: “Oh yeah… His hands had been cut up pretty badly huh, what was used to cut them up though?”

Kenji: “The evidence is right here… I know it is!”

-Select Truth Bullet-

  1. Monokuma File 4
  2. **_> >>Pair of Medical Scissors._**
  3. Red Marks around Takeshi’s neck.
  4. Slashes in Takeshi’s Hands.
  5. Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s legs.
  6. Missing Chemical Bottle.
  7. Missing Protein Powder.
  8. Akira’s Testimony.
  9. Pair of Missing Medical Scissors.
  10. Broken Glass.
  11. Amber coloured Bottle.
  12. Second Class Trial Evidence pack.
  13. Cooking Pot caked with poison.



-Present the evidence: Pair of Medical Scissors?-

  * **_> >>Yes_**.
  * No.



Kenji: “The pair of medical scissors that was lodged in Takeshi’s neck…”

Kenji: “Those scissors also caused the slashes on his hands and fingers!”

Yukari: “And how the hell do you know this?”

Kenji: “Because I pulled the scissors out of his neck and tried it myself.”

Minato & Matsu: “SAYWHAAAAAA!? YOU DID WHAT NOW!?”

Mitsuru: “Honestly you two… It’s not that big of a deal anyways if he used the scissors to prove his point.”

Matsu: “But that’s horribly creepy!”

Akira: “You guys forget that Takeshi did the same thing with Hikari right?”

Minato & Matsu: “Oh yeah…”

Mitsuru: “Well enough about their stupidity for now, is there anything else that was out of the ordinary about Takeshi’s body when we first saw it?”

Kenji: ‘ _Mitsuru is right… There is something else that was strange about his body… I gotta figure out what it was_.’

-Non-Stop Debate 3:

-Present your Evidence!-

-Truth Bullets-

  * Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s Legs.
  * Monokuma File 4.
  * Red Marks around Takeshi’s Neck.



-Fuse Truth Bullets: Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s Legs & Red Marks around Takeshi’s Neck?-

  * **_> >>Yes_**.
  * No.



-New Truth Bullet Formed: Other evidence on Takeshi’s body-

Mitsuru: “So everyone… What else was **suspicious or** **seemed off about his body**?”

Meiko: “Other than the slashes on his fingers and hands…”

Meiko: “I didn’t really **see anything else sadly…”**

Minato: “Oi Kenji… You have to know what we are talking about right!?”

Minato: “ **I pointed out one of the pieces of evidence for you!** ”

Matsu: “What are you talking about, Minato?”

Matsu: “I’m pretty sure there was **nothing else suspicious** on his body I think…”

Kenji: “No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Other evidence on Takeshi’s body-

-Break!-

Kenji: “Matsu, wait a second… Minato was right.”

Kenji: “There was something else that was suspicious about the body.”

Matsu: “Oh really? What was it then?”

Minato: “He’s talking about the yellow poison and the red marks around his neck.”

Matsu: “Red…Marks?”

Kenji: “Yeah, that and the poison… According to the Monokuma File, it said that were signs that he was strangled.”

Kenji: “So obviously that could’ve been one of the causes of death.”

Meiko: “Did it say what strangled him in the first place?”

Mitsuru: “No it didn’t but it looked like he was strangled using some other object.”

Mitsuru: “Those markings don’t look like marks that a tie would make in the first place.”

Kenji: ‘ _Mitsuru is right about that… What could those marks actually be from…?_ ’

-Hangman’s Gambit-

__P_

“Wait a minute… That must be it!”

ROPE

“Now I understand!”

-Complete!-

Kenji: “Rope!”

Shoji: “Huh…Rope?”

Kenji: “Yeah, when you look at the markings on his neck… You can see that rope was used to strangle him.”

Minato: “But if I remember correctly, there wasn’t any rope at the crime scene at all.”

Toji: “Yeah there wasn’t any rope to begin with at all…”

Matsu: “Y-You mean we reached a dead end again!?”

Kenji: ‘ _Damn it… We keep hitting dead ends with this case… At this rate… We all will be executed…_ ’

Professor Saeko: “Everyone… Please stop… I… I have something to tell you all…”

Everyone turned their gaze towards the Professor; she looked away from the group and clenched her teeth and fists. Asuka, who was standing beside the professor asked her what, was wrong but the Professor let out a deep breath and looked at her students.

Professor Saeko: “I…I was the one who killed Takeshi…”

The group gasped at this revelation, Kenji however shouted at the professor. “Shut up, Professor! I know you didn’t kill Takeshi… You wouldn’t kill anyone of us if you could!”

Professor Saeko: “If you aren’t going to listen to me… Then I think we should all have another debate with a piece of evidence that will incriminate me.”

-Non-Stop Debate 4-

-Present your evidence-

-Truth Bullets:

  * Monokuma File 4.
  * Akira’s Testimony.
  * Missing Chemical Bottle.
  * Poison caked cooking pot.
  * Second Class Trial Evidence Pack.



Minato: “P-Professor… **You have to be lying**!”

Professor Saeko: “I’m sorry Minato… **But I’m not lying…** ”

Celeste: “There’s no way that you… That you could’ve killed him…”

Celeste: “ **I refuse to believe it**!”

Professor Saeko: “Celeste…”

Matsu: “Does this mean… That we have been in the care of a killer all this time!?”

Matsu: “ **I can’t believe it either**!”

Akira: “No… The Professor… She can’t… I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT TOO!”

Professor Saeko: “Akira…”

Mitsuru: “…Given the circumstances… **I can’t believe** that the only person who managed to keep us from going insane… Could be the killer…”

Toji: “Professor… You have to be lying! There’s no way that **you could’ve killed Takeshi**!”

Professor Saeko: “Toji…”

Shoji: “…Please tell us that you are lying… **You have to be lying**!”

Professor Saeko: “I’m sorry Shoji… **but I’m not lying**.”

Shinji & Yukari: “We can’t… No it’s not possible… The Professor can’t be the killer!”

Professor Saeko: “You two… But…”

Asuka: “I refuse to believe that she killed Takeshi… It just isn’t possible!”

Professor Saeko: “I’m sorry everyone… But I killed Takeshi…”

Professor Saeko: “Someone in the infirmary who was awake… **They must have heard my voice** when I confronted Takeshi…”

Meiko: “No… **No one heard your voice**!”

Kenji: “No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Akira’s Testimony-

-Break!-

Kenji: “There was someone in the infirmary last night… And it was Akira!”

Matsu: “Oh yeah… She was laid out from being poisoned right?”

Mitsuru: “So, Akira? Do you remember the voice?”

Akira: “…”

Toji: “Just spit it out already! Or else we all are screwed!”

Akira: “Yes… She was the one yelled at Takeshi to stop… When he was giving me that protein drink…”

Asuka: “Holy fuck he did what!?”

Akira: “Yup, he was going to give me a protein drink to help boost my strength.”

Professor Saeko: “But he put something else in it… Kenji you know what it was right?”

Kenji: ‘ _Of course I do… I just have to pick out all the evidence I need for this one…_ ’

  * Monokuma File 4
  * Pair of Medical Scissors.
  * Red Marks around Takeshi’s neck.
  * Slashes in Takeshi’s Hands.
  * >>>Yellow Poison on Takeshi’s legs.
  * >>>Missing Chemical Bottle.
  * >>>Missing Protein Powder.
  * Akira’s Testimony.
  * Pair of Missing Medical Scissors.
  * >>>Broken Glass.
  * >>>Amber coloured Bottle.
  * Second Class Trial Evidence pack.
  * Cooking Pot caked with poison.



-Fuse the selected truth bullets?-

  * **> >>Yes**.
  * No.



Kenji: “I got it!”

Kenji: “He was planning on using the poison from the chemical lab.”

Professor Saeko: “Correct, Takeshi Narukami was planning on finishing off Akira while she was sleeping.”

Yukari: “What are you talking about…? Finishing off?”

Minato: “I think she is talking about the poisoning at dinner time.”

Professor Saeko: “Correct again, he was planning on poisoning you all but Minato’s sensitive sense of smell made him detect the poison faster than anyone.”

Professor Saeko: “Of course he said that he was going to kill Minato if it wasn’t for Celeste getting involved with the third investigation.”

Minato: “Wait…What!?”

Professor Saeko: “Yes… Takeshi was planning on killing you while you were resting up after Kaori was killed by Katsuya.

Professor Saeko: But, Celeste unknowingly saved your life by saying that she would let everyone know your condition when you got better.”

Professor Saeko: “So technically… Takeshi had it in for Minato but ended up getting thwarted every time, in fact… He had a hit list on the students he was planning on killing.”

Kenji: “W…What the fuck!?”

Professor Saeko: “Yes… Takeshi was planning on killing everyone two nights ago…”

The entire class gave a collected gasp of shock; they still couldn’t believe that the one person who said that they would save them if they got seriously injured was planning on killing them all. But Mitsuru collected herself and glared daggers towards the Professor.

Mitsuru: “Are you the other traitor that Monokuma told us about?”

Professor Saeko: “…Yes I am…”

Toji: “Damn it… This has to be a bad nightmare!”

Matsu: “I agree with Toji… Please let this be a bad nightmare!”

Monokuma: “Nope! This is reality tubby, you should accept it! Upupupu~”

Professor Saeko: “…I will explain the events of what happened last night in my own closing argument… I’m sorry Kenji but I want to tell it from my perspective.”

Kenji: “Alright…”

-Closing Argument! Begin!”

The Professor began to piece together what happened the night before, as she finished her closing argument. The Professor opened her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“This is what happened!”

“Last night, I decided to check on Akira’s condition to see if she regained consciousness. However from the window of the Infirmary doors I saw that Takeshi was putting poison in the drink that he was about to give to her, I rushed in the room and prevented him from giving her the poisoned drink where he dropped the glass, grabbed a pair of medical scissors and ran for the upper floors. I gave chase hoping to find out why he was planning on poisoning her.”

“By the time I reached the fourth floor he was already in the music room laughing at me, when I found him I saw that he had cut up his own fingers and hands and claimed it was for ‘her beautiful despair’. He told me about the hit list he had planned for everyone and how he poisoned the food hoping to kill the entire class the night before, while he tried to choke himself to death using the rope from the second floor bathroom. He tried to attack me but I managed to grab the scissors and I jabbed it in his throat, realizing what I had done I tried my best to make it look like a suicide by wrapping his tie around his throat… However that failed because…”

“The killer is me! Saeko Yasuhiro, former teacher of Hope’s Peak Academy!”

-Complete!-

-Trial Results: A+-

-Trial Complete!-

The entire class remained silent; some were still in disbelief that the professor and Takeshi were the traitors among the group but some only kept their mouths shut while others were just watching what would happen. But Monokuma broke the silence by shouting out: Upupupu~ so it seems the killer has revealed themselves, So cast your votes on who will be the blackened, who’s it gonna be!”

-Voting… Now!-

[[ ** _Professor Saeko Yasuhiro has been chosen as the blackened_**!]]

“Upupupu that’s correct you guys! It was your beloved Professor Saeko who murdered the Super High School Level Doctor, Takeshi Narukami to protect you guys!”

The entire class looked away from the Professor, but she only smiled at them. “Everyone… Please don’t feel bad about your choice; I must atone for what I did… But please promise me this… Do not lose hope, even in the darkest of times… Please.”

Kenji shouted at the professor, “Professor… Stop this! Living on won’t mean anything if we lose you!” but all that she did was smile at him, she noticed that tears were forming in the corners of his eyes which was rare for someone so headstrong like Kenji.

“I will live on in the hope you all create… But if your hope dies, then my hope will die as well… Isn’t living without hope worse than death?” She replied, but Kenji once again shouted at her.

“I…I don’t understand that at all!”

The Professor closed her eyes and chuckled at Kenji, “Then remember this… Use your remaining life to think about what it means to live when surrounded by despair… That’s my final lesson to you as your teacher.”

She then turned to Monokuma and nodded at him, he pulled out a small mallet and the button that sent people to their executions rose out of the ground in front of him. The entire class were shouting “NO!” and other voices of protest but all that the professor did was smile at her class, “Please… Don’t lose hope no matter what… I believe in you all… I’m sorry for failing you all, farewell.”

“Professor Saeko… We’ll never forget you!” Kenji shouted and she smiled at them all again.

“The rest is in your hands… My precious students…” She replied as she was dragged off to her execution.

[[ **Professor Saeko Yasuhiro has been found guilty, time for the execution to commence!** ]]

-Execution: After School Lesson/Detention-

The Professor was placed is in a room filled with school desks. She was facing the students who were behind the chain link fence. When the lights finally brightened she noticed that she was in the center of the room on a large conveyor belt where she was standing in front of a blackboard where metal arms were moving her own arms as if she was pointing at a chalk board, Monokuma then appeared dressed as a high school student sitting at the desk that was placed in front of her, She then heard the sound of something banging behind her.

Turning her head slightly, the professor saw a large block that looked like a trash compactor as the chalkboard and the desk were getting closer to the block she began to hold her breath and waited for the worse. She saw the horrified looks on her student’s faces and she gave them all a warm smile before shouting out at the group, “Everyone… Think positive please!” Before she noticed that the conveyor belt stopped right below the block. Looking up at the block, it came crashing down as the class all looked away from the scene what followed after words was the sound of a disgusting ‘crunch’ when they all opened their eyes they all saw that the block was covered in blood.

-Execution: End-

Everyone heard Monokuma laughing as they all walked away from the execution room, the class all got on the elevator where Minato pushed the button that sent them to the first floor of the academy while Kenji closed the elevator doors. When they reached the first floor, everyone didn’t say anything to each other but Kenji turned around and saw Minato and Kaori Suo were talking to each other.

“Listen… I don’t care if you aren’t really Celestia Ludenberg, you will always be Celeste to us no matter what! Right ya guys!?” Minato shouted at the group, they all turned around and some looked confused at Minato’s sudden yell that Asuka asked what he was talking about in the first place.

Kaori looked away from the group and closed her eyes, “He’s asking if… I will always be Celestia Ludenberg to you all…” She muttered but Toji and Shinji walked over to her and placed a hand each on her shoulders, they smiled and nodded at her as the remainder of the class also walked over to Kaori and reassured her that she will always be Celeste to them.

Kaori looked surprised and placed a hand over her mouth and smiled, “I…Thank you all so much…” She replied and the whole class began to talk more that evening, everyone put the events of the last class trial behind them and even some were taking the Professor’s last words seriously. The entire class was up majority of the night in the dining hall talking and cracking jokes to lighten another person up, Kenji thought that everything was finally returning to normal for now. But Minato walked over to him as everyone was packing up to return to their rooms for the evening and whispered something in his ear.

“Meet me in front of the data processing room on the fourth floor… I want to check something out…” And he backed away from Kenji who looked surprised at Minato’s sudden request, after everyone returned to their rooms. He stood outside of the data processing room and waited for Minato to arrive, Kenji began twiddling his thumbs and whistling but there was no sign of his chubby friend anywhere. After waiting 20 minutes, that’s when he decided to try the door handle in case it would open for him. But as the Lucky Student began to fiddle with the door handle it was still locked, he then began to kick it repeatedly like how Akira would if she was pissed and it still wouldn’t open.

However he heard a familiar voice that sent chills down his spine, turning around he saw Monokuma looking at him. “What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you want to know what happened to the last two who tried to sneak into the data room at this time of night?” He shouted but Kenji glared at the bear, but his saving grace was Minato who appeared behind them both.

“What seems to be the problem here?” He asked, Kenji turned around and was surprised that Minato finally showed up. However as he was about to open his mouth, Monokuma shouted at them both to head to bed. The gamer nodded and grabbed Kenji’s arm and led him away from the data processing room and Monokuma, when the two of them reached the second floor. Kenji gave a sigh of relief after they both escaped Monokuma.

“Damn… You certainly took your sweet ass time.” But he was stopped when Minato leaned in towards Kenji and whispered a name in his ear which would be stuck in his head for the remainder of his life.

“Jin… Jin Arisato… He’s the mysterious nineteenth student of Class 79… He’s hiding in this academy somewhere…” Minato whispered and Kenji looked at his friend in the corner of his eyes, but Minato wasn’t done telling Kenji what he had discovered.

“…he’s the Super High School Level Despair… Watch out for him… Cause he will strike at any moment…”

Kenji looked shocked as Minato walked away from him and descended down the stairs, he didn’t know what to say at this point. How did Minato find out about this Jin Arisato person and what was he hiding from him in the first place, “The nineteenth… Student… This… What is going on here…?” Kenji muttered to himself as he sat on the steps for the remainder of the evening thinking to himself.

-Chapter 4: The Monster among us… End-

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane.
  4. Celestia Ludenberg.
  5. Toji Kuzunoha.
  6. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  7. Shoji Suzuhara.
  8. Shinji Morishige.
  9. Yukari Morishige.
  10. Asuka Yoshida.
  11. Akira Hohaku.
  12. Mitsuru Shishido.
  13. Jin Arisato (?).



List of the Deceased:

  1. Hikari Shinohara.
  2. Eikichi Takeba.
  3. Shinichi Nakamura.
  4. Kaori Suou.
  5. Katsuya Ikari.
  6. Takeshi Narukami.
  7. Saeko Yasuhiro.



13? /18 students remain-


	14. Chapter 5: That day we started to remember, Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Professor gone, will the remaining members of Class 79 continue in their search to escape from the academy or will they all eventually kill each other?

-Unknown Location-

A young woman was watching the monitor in front of her, moving her lilac hair out of her face she greeted the brown haired boy that entered the tent. The sound of helicopters and people talking all around them were muffled by the walls of the building, the boy looked at the screen and saw the students that gathered in the dining hall of the academy.

“So how many of them are left?” He asked the girl, she reached over beside the monitor and grabbed a list of the students. He looked at it too and saw that only 12 of them remained over all, the boy gasped at the sudden drop in numbers but was still impressed that many had survived so far. “Twelve huh… Well at least that’s still more than what we had at this point.”

The girl sighed and looked back at the monitor; the students began to talk among themselves before another one walked in and also greeted the rest of them. She was more focused on their interactions instead of the boy beside her, “I think that we should go in and save as soon as we can! If we don’t then for sure there will only be six of them left!” He shouted but she spun around in her chair and shook her head, but as she was about to open her mouth another boy walked into the tent and spoke in her place.

“You know that’s a suicide mission, besides the person who has trapped them in there has rigged the building to self-destruct if we go inside of it.” He said while the brown haired boy looked over his shoulder and saw a blond haired boy pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the brown haired one was about to argue back but the lilac haired girl only stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know that you are worried, but Alter Ego already finished the code that will save one of them if it comes to the end of a class trial, please get some rest. If you don’t then you’ll fall ill.” She added with a blunt tone of voice, he sighed and looked back at the monitor but the blond left the tent and soon after the brown haired boy soon followed after someone said he got a call from his sister in another city. The lilac haired girl continued to watch the monitors as she was flipping through the student’s files until she stopped at two that were labeled ‘Jin Arisato’ and ‘Mitsuru Shishido’, as she was reading them both her eyes widened with shock at the contents of the two folders.

-Meanwhile… Back in Hope’s Peak Academy’s dining hall-

Kenji entered the dining hall and saw that the rest of his friends were chatting amongst each other, it seems that the events of the last class trial didn’t dampen the mood at all. When he asked why everyone was in a good mood, Yukari stood up and put her fist in her palm “We are taking the professor’s last words to heart! We need to remain positive in this situation for as long as we can!” and the remaining students all shouted in agreement, Kenji smiled and nodded too. He felt happy that everyone wasn’t depressed by what happened last night.

Minato got up and patted Kenji on the back and chuckled, “Well before you came in, Monokuma told us that he opened the fifth floor for us to explore, and I’ll see y’all there.” He said as he left the dining hall, everyone soon followed after.

-Fifth Floor of Hope’s Peak Academy-

When the remaining 12 students arrived to the fifth floor, they all split up into small groups and began to explore. Kenji followed Minato, Matsu, Celeste and Toji into the gardens where they began to look around, Kenji walked over to a small wooden hut and saw four chickens sitting inside of it. He smiled and was relieved that there were other livings things inside the academy with them, turning around he saw that Toji pulled out a pickaxe out of the supply shed and was looking at it. “What the hell is that for?” Matsu asked Toji and she shrugged before tossing it aside, Kenji walked over to where he tossed the pickaxe and saw the words ‘Crazy Diamonds’ engraved on the side.

Looking at his friends, he noticed that they all were standing around what looked like a burned mark on the ground. Kenji looked at the mark and noticed that the ground that an outline of a person was surrounded by scorched earth. “What do you think happened here?” He asked the four of them and they all shrugged. Minato however got down on one knee and followed the outline of the person with his index finger and sighed.

“It looks like a body or someone was blown up here, meh nothing to worry about for now.” He replied and looked up at the giant flower that was labeled as the ‘Monokuma Flower’, everyone also looked up at it and Matsu groaned. They all turned towards him and asked what was up before Minato smirked and realized what Matsu was getting at.

“W-What if it grows tentacles and stuff…?” He muttered as Minato and Toji busted out laughing while Minato held his stomach while trying to catch his breath, Matsu looked at them rubbed his temples before adding. “I’ve seen some shit ok! And this shit might happen to you two!” and that made them laugh even harder. Celeste sighed and rolled her eyes before muttering, “You are all a bunch of hopeless dorks…” Kenji on the other hand shook his head and chuckled before leaving the four of them to find another group that was exploring.

Walking across the hallway, he saw that Meiko, Yukari, Shinji and Shoji were inside of the dojo. When he entered the dojo he saw that Yukari and Shinji began training with each other as the other two were looking around, Shoji saw that Kenji entered the room and greeted him before Meiko ran over to him and smiled at the Lucky Student. The two of them walked past the training twins and walked under the cherry blossoms holding each other’s hands.

“It feels like a real spring day in here…” Meiko muttered looking up at the blossoms that were falling on them, Kenji nodded and also looked up. He remembered his last day of Junior High and how he had said good-bye to all his friends who were going to other high schools instead of the one he chose before going to Hope’s Peak. He was broken out of his revere when Meiko grabbed his other hand; she looked at him and gave him a small smile before adding. “We will get out of here right…?”

Kenji saw the hidden look of worry in her eyes and nodded, “Of course we will, I swear on my life I will get everyone out of here!” He replied and the Fashion Diva hugged him, he patted her head as he heard a collective sounds of “oooooooh~” coming from the doorway. Turning his head he saw that the entire class was watching them and some were chuckling while others were surprised to see the two of them that close while Matsu and Asuka both muttered “Meh I ship it.” Kenji on the other hand shouted at his friends before they all started laughing and they all scattered, Meiko chuckled and also followed the students who left. He sighed and shook his head before following them back to the dining hall.

-The next day-

Everyone once again gathered in the dining hall before deciding that they all would go and investigate the fifth floor individually instead of splitting up into groups, when the class reached the fifth floor they all splintered off and began searching around. Kenji looked into one of the classrooms and saw that Asuka, Yukari, Shinji and Akira who were opening desks and flipping them if there was nothing of importance; he decided to stay away from them knowing how violent they can become. Just as he was leaving he heard a desk being thrown out the door and it nearly hit Shoji who ran away from the door after that, he looked in the other classroom and saw Toji, Matsu, Minato and Celeste all looking through the classroom rather calmly unlike the others.

When Minato was looking through a desk, he pulled an envelope out of a desk and Celeste noticed this too. She tilted her head and he began to open it, both Toji and Matsu and even Kenji walked over the two of them as he pulled out a bunch of photos. He set them on the table and started to go through then all, they were all photos of the deceased students who were all together smiling, doing other things such as chilling in a classroom, all five of them were confused about the contents of the photos and why they were there in the first place. However just as they were about to think about it longer, they heard Meiko screaming.

The five of them left the classroom and saw that one of the classrooms that was by the Biology Labs was open, Kenji saw Meiko on her knees gagging and when he entered the doorway he knew why she was gagging since the stench of blood and rotting flesh was coming from the classroom. “Geez… What the fuck is that stench!?” Minato shouted as he walked in the classroom and flipped the light switch, when the lights came on he backed out of the classroom as the others also showed up. All twelve of them were covering their noses as they all filed into the classroom, Kenji looked around and saw that blood was splattered all over the walls along with slash marks all over them, all through out the room there were chalk outlines of bodies in various positions scattered all over the floors.

“Man this room is givin’ off bad vibes…” Toji muttered as he moved over an overturned desk and looked down at one of the chalk outlines, everyone else was looking around at the room and checking through the desks and cabinets, but all they found was more blood and someone even found a skull in the cabinets. Kenji on the other hand looked on top of the teacher’s podium and saw that there was a bloody handprint over a list of names, picking it up he saw that most of them were scratched out expect for six of them. Shoji saw what Kenji was looking at and asked to read out the contents of the paper which he did.

“About over half a year ago, a tragedy happened in Hope’s Peak Academy where sixteen students were forced to participate in a mutual killing game… Out of sixteen only six of them survived… The three main characters were… Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami…’ and that’s where it ends before the rest of it is covered in blood…” Kenji muttered as he set the paper down, Mitsuru however looked surprised at the mention of the name ‘Byakuya Togami’.

“So that heartless bastard made his way to Hope’s Peak before huh…” She muttered and Asuka looked over at her and asked if she had met this ‘Togami’ person before, the heiress nodded and looked away from the group. “Byakuya Togami is the heir of the Togami Family… I met him before coming to Hope’s Peak at a party that was celebrating the collaboration between the Togami family and the Shishido Conglomerate, he wasn’t the friendliest person I’ve met so far.”  She replied while rubbing her chin in thought, but everyone else seemed to be more focused on the thought that there was another mutual killing game before theirs.

Minato broke the silence by saying that they all should return to the dorms for now and take a break for the rest of the day, everyone all agreed with what Minato suggested and everyone began to make their way to the dorms. Toji slammed the door to the classroom shut after everyone left and spray painted ‘DO NOT ENTER THIS ROOM, BAD VIBES HERE!” in red spray paint before following the others.

The sight of that classroom made everyone feel gross, just the sight of it- no the thought of it- and even the smell of the classroom had sunk into their clothing. The stench of blood and rotting flesh seemed to radiate though out the entire school even the dorms had been attacked by this stench, Shoji described it as even worse than the smell in the music room when they found Takeshi’s body.  Deciding to call it a day and have a mass washing of their clothes, the entire class spent the rest of the day cleaning off the filth that came from that classroom. Kenji sighed as he walked out of his dorm room while sliding on his shirt, looking around he noticed that most of the others had retired for the evening but looking over by the baths he saw Shoji carrying a case of soda into the baths which suggested that Shoji was getting ready to spend an all-nighter with helping Alter Ego decrypt the rest of the files on the laptop.

Walking over to the dining hall, he saw that Minato and Celeste were talking to each other over a can of soda and a cup of tea. They both seemed to be getting close to each other; he turned around to leave after seeing that no one else was around and he saw that both of them had walked into the academy. Curious, he followed them to the fifth floor where both of them entered the dojo.

From behind the doors, he saw both of them walking under the cherry blossoms holding each other’s hands like he and Meiko did. “It’s beautiful… I haven’t seen anything like this in all my life…” Celeste said looking up at the falling petals, Minato chuckled and also looked up at the petals too while replying ‘Yeah it’s pretty beautiful…’ she placed both hands on the front of her dress and sat down on the fence under the biggest tree in the dojo. Minato walked up to her and sat beside her looking up at the trees.

“Y’know… There’s a giant cherry blossom near my house, when we get out of here I’ll show you it!” He added while giving her a large smiled, she looked at him and back down to her feet. She wanted to tell him something but couldn’t or she didn’t want too, the two continued talking while Kenji was watching them. He was happy that they could become close in such a short amount of time. When the two of them decided to head back to Minato’s room, the Lucky Student had to get a head start or else they would’ve caught him watching them.

By the time Minato and Celeste had reached the dorms, Kenji had already bolting for his room. When the two went to their own rooms, they each said good night to each other, when Minato reached his door he saw that the name plate was partially off his door. Deciding to fix it instead fell off and another name plate was under his current one, the name on the door was a name that triggered a vision to play though his mind.

He was sitting at a table with Matsu and Toji as another student who was fairly chubby who walked over to them and sat down beside them, Toji sounded a bit rude until that student gasped loudly and the student looked down at the manga they were reading. “Ah well hello there you three, I saw you reading Heretic Angel ☆ Mochi Mochi Princess and I just wanted to see what volume you three were on!” However Toji glared at the student and asked who he was with an annoyed voiced, the boy fixed his orange and blue tie and smiled at the trio.

“Well my name is Hifumi Yamada! And I’m the Super High School Level Doujin Author; it’s a real pleasure to meet all of you!” The boy named Hifumi said as he held out his hand towards Minato and the vision ended, Minato looked up at the name plate on his door and muttered the name to himself under his breath.

“Hifumi… Yamada… Why do I have his room…?” He said to himself as he looked down at the tie he was wearing, “So… I’m wearing Hifumi’s tie… What is going on in this place…?” He thought before setting his name plate back on his door before entering it, walking over to his cabinet where he was going to throw his hoodie in there. He saw that two of them had been replaced with a grey cardigan that had a strange design on the shoulders, pulling one out he put it on and it almost fit him but he decided to toss it on his chair before eventually falling asleep.

Everyone gathered in the dining hall before they all set off for the top floor to go some searching again, as they group was eating breakfast. Kenji grabbed his toast and put jam on it while looking at the others; everyone looked visibly disturbed about the bloody classroom that no one had touched their food, after having some breakfast the twelve students made their way to the top floor. However what was waiting for them would forever be planted in their memories, the group decided to gather in the dojo but when they entered it… The thing they saw in there surprised them all.

In the far back of the room just after the cherry blossom trees, there was a body that was nailed to the wall. Several spears were inserted into the corpse’s stomach and chest while the face was horribly disfigured beyond recognition, either by fire or by acid. The class all let out a collective gasp as Kenji and Minato ran up to the body to see if they can find anything; however Monokuma’s body announcement started playing.

“Attention Students, it seems that a body has been discovered! So now you all will receive a copy of the Monokuma File! You have an hour or two to gather all the evidence you need to help you all in your fifth Class Trial! Happy hunting you guys! Upupupupupu~”

Everyone looked at each other and they all had the same thought running through their minds.

“Who is this mysterious student?”


	15. Chapter 5: That day we started to remember, Part 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a new body discovered, will Class 79 find out who this mysterious student is or how he died in the first place?

After the body announcement played over the intercoms, the entire group was silent as they all gazed at the body that was nailed to the wall. Kenji looked up at the body and back to the others, he did a quick count of everybody who was there and he counted 12 people like before. So this person laid out in front of them was nobody that they knew, looking down at the floor he noticed a small key lying there and picked it up. Turning around he showed the key to the others.

“What’s that for?” Shoji asked looking at the strange key, everyone else was also asking the same question until Minato grabbed it from Kenji and told them all to follow him back down to the fourth floor. By the time the group had reached the fourth floor, they saw Minato standing by the data processing room, the group stood around the door and Minato inserted the key into the lock and it opened. The remaining 12 entered the room and began to look around.

The first thing they all saw was the monitors that showed off all of their rooms and various other rooms in the academy, Meiko walked over the one of them and saw her room was just the way she left it. “So this is where the Mastermind has been watching us…” Mitsuru muttered crossing her arms and looking over towards the door with Monokuma painted on it, walking over to it she knocked on the door but there was no one on the other side. Shinji and Asuka on the other hand walked up to it and began kicking it with all their strength, Kenji looked to his right and saw that Matsu, Minato and Toji were trying to get the TV working.

“Move over you two idiots!” Toji yelled at the two of them as he pushed both of them away from the TV and he began to hook it up, after he was done setting up the antenna and everything else a visual finally came on the TV. What they saw on the screen surprised them all to the point that they were all silent.

They all saw themselves on the TV screen, Kenji turned around and looked at the camera while both Minato and Matsu both waved at it to be sure that it was really them on the TV. As they all were panicking, Monokuma appeared and started laughing at the group. “Upupupu~ I see that you have finally figured out what those security cameras are for!” They all turned around and all glared at the bear, Asuka walked over to Monokuma and raised her fist but she was pulled away from Monokuma by Shinji and Yukari.

“W-What is the meaning of this you damn bear!?” Kenji shouted but Monokuma only raised a paw up to silence him, half of the students looked terrified while the others tried their best to hide their faces from the cameras.

“Hiding your faces won’t change anything, besides only the first murder was broadcasted all over the country before the signal was cut by ‘them’.”

Everyone then turned their heads towards Monokuma who started to laugh again; someone from the crowd shouted ‘Who are they?”

The bear then glared at each and every student, some of them backed away while most of them just looked at him.

“Upu… Upupupu~ the people I’m referring too are the Future Foundation… Or as they should be properly addressed… the World Enders.”

The entire group exchanged looks of confusion to each other, “The Future Foundation…?” Toji asked Monokuma but all that the bear did was raise a paw to silence the Graffiti Artist, he started to laugh at the students before hopping up on one of the tables and looking down at each of them.

“Upupupu~ I won’t reveal anything to you all just yet, but I hope you all realize that you really cut into your investigation time!” Monokuma said and the body had popped back into their minds, he was right they all had to find out who the murderer was for the unknown student. As Monokuma finished speaking a notification sound played on all of their e-handbooks that signalled that the new Monokuma File had been handed out to them.

~Investigation Start~

Kenji pulled his out and began to read over his copy of the Monokuma File.

Monokuma File 5:

  * The time of death is estimated to be around 5:30AM
  * The Victim was killed with multiple spears that pierced the abdomen and chest.
  * The Victim seems to have been struck with some blunt object over the head.
  * The Victim’s face seemed to have been charred off by acid.
  * Other than that the Murder Weapons were left at the crime scene.



~Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 5~

Kenji’s eyes widened at the contents of the Monokuma File, there was barely anything that hinted to the indentity of the victim. Looking up as his fellow students they all had the same thing running through their minds until his memories floated back to when Minato told him about the unknown nineteenth student. “Minato… Do you have an idea about who this student could be?”

The Gamer looked at Kenji and back towards the TV that showed all of them on the screen, he then turned his gaze towards Kenji and nodded. “I believe that student has to be Jin Arisato… The Nineteenth student that was supposed to be in Class 79…” Minato replied and the rest of the group all looked at him, he fully turned his head towards his classmates and sighed. “He’s the Super High School Level Despair… And I think that someone here murdered him finally.” He added while everyone gave him collective confused gazes; however Minato pushed past everyone and turned back towards his fellow students.

“I’m going on ahead, besides there’s something else I want to confirm…”

The moment Minato had left; Shinji ran out in the hall after him and shouted at the Gamer. “You ain’t the Super High School Level Detective! Stop acting like you are findin’ all the answers!” The Boxer shouted but the gamer looked back towards him though the corners of his eyes.

“Funny you said that man… My sister is the Super High School Level Private Investigator, so it runs in the family ahaha…” He replied and continued his way to the fifth floor, most of the students followed him too while the others were just stayed in the data room. Kenji decided to also make his way to the fifth floor and see what he could gather before the Class Trial Began.

Kenji reached the fifth floor and returned to the Dojo where he saw that most of the students who followed Minato were looking around for anything of importance; he looked towards the body and saw that the gamer was investigating the body. Kenji walked over to him and looked down at it, Minato stood up and pointed to a small hole in the head, “You see that…?” He asked and Kenji indeed saw a hole in the middle of the corpse’s forehead.

“What do you think caused it?” The Lucky Student asked the Gamer but just as Minato was about to reply, Matsu came running in with a pick-axe that had blood on one of the ends. The Otaku handed it over to Minato as he inspected it, Kenji also took a good look at it and wondered if this object caused that blunt force trauma mentioned in the Monokuma File, however Minato handed it to Kenji and told him to put the bloody end of the pick-axe in the hole.

The Lucky Student nodded and inserted the bloody end of the pick-axe inside the corpse’s wound, and it fit. Minato placed a hand on his chin and bent down beside the body again. “So it seems that the killer might’ve used this to put an end to the victim…” The Gamer muttered and Kenji asked him about the blunt force trauma that was mentioned in the Monokuma File, Minato then lifted the body in a sitting position and pointed to the back of the head. Kenji saw that the back of the head looked like a blooming flower, the Lucky Student backed away at the sight of the wound and gagged.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Mysterious Hole~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Pick-axe~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Back of the victim’s head~

After noting the evidence he had gathered, he decided to check the abdomen and face of the body to see if he could gather anymore evidence. Looking at the chest he saw that there were stab marks all over the chest and abdomen, he raised his head from the body and he saw that Shinji and Yukari were pretending to sword fight with the black spears. They saw him looking at them where they dropped the spears and one of them rolled over to Kenji’s side picking it up he saw that the spear had dried blood on it and he remembered that it was one of the many spears that had pierced the body to the wall before they had taken it down.

Turning it over he saw the words, “Spear of Gungnir” engraved on the side of the object. Kenji wondered why such an object existed in the school in the first place.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Spears of Gungnir~

Setting the spear down, Kenji turned his attention to the head of the body and it was just as the Monokuma file had said. It was indeed charred off by something, Asuka walked over to him and tossed him a small bottle, and he caught it and saw that is was a chemical from the Chemistry Room. The label read ‘Hydrofluoric Acid’ he asked where she found it and she pointed over at one of the lockers, Kenji got up and walked over to the sixth locker.

Opening it he saw that there were a bundle of arrows and bloody duct tape, but beside the duct tape there were more bottles of Hydrofluoric Acid that were sitting there. Kenji picked them up and saw that they were all empty, ‘Does this mean that the killer used these as a way of burning the victim’s face off and that they used the arrows and duct tape to bash the body’s head in?’ Kenji thought to himself as he decided to log all the evidence that he had just found.

~Truth Bullet Obtained: Victim’s scarred face~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Bottles of Hydrofluoric Acid~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Duralumin Arrows~  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Blood stained duct tape~

Kenji closed the locker and stood up; the next place that he should investigate should be the Chemistry Lab. However Monokuma appeared on the screen adjacent to them and his voice filled the halls of the academy, “Upupu I hope you all have enough evidence… Because the next class trial is about to begin soon! So make your way to the doors as soon as possible!”

Everyone was shocked; their time limit had been seriously cut down from an hour to only 45 minutes. However they all decided it was best to follow Monokuma’s instructions for now for fear that they could all be filled with spears too, as everyone gathered before the elevators they all noticed that two people were missing. Kenji noticed this too and saw that the two that were missing were Minato, Celeste and Shoji, Akira tapped her foot impatiently and punched the elevator button in frustration “First those two don’t show up… And now the damn elevator won’t show up at all either!” She shouted as the Body Modifier began to furiously punch the button.

At that moment Monokuma had also sensed that the two of them were gone for so long that he appeared and began shouting at the remaining nine, however as he was shouted at them. But the three of them entered the room just as Monokuma was saying that he would punish them severely if they were ever late again, they all shrugged it off and Shoji leant over closer to Minato and whispered something in his ear. Kenji caught the words ‘Alter Ego… Code… Vote for…’ before they all entered the elevator.

As the elevator began it’s descent into the depths of the school, Minato began to go over the evidence with Kenji and even added some stiff that Kenji had missed. “The Hydrofluoric Acid… It takes a day for the effects to fully show, meaning that the Monokuma File is lying about the time of death… So I’m suggesting that the killer must have killed Jin yesterday and waited to display his body.” He muttered into Kenji’s ear, the Lucky Student looked surprised at this and added it to his notebook quickly.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Real Time of Death?-  
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Effects of Hydrofluoric Acid~  
~Truth Bullet Updated: Monokuma File 5~

Everything about this case seemed to be confusing Kenji more and more, but he had to try and pin the murder on someone else but judging that everyone had solid alibis for their movements the night before it was going to be tricky to try and pin it on someone for once.

“ _A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own again… This is a game of life and death! Let’s end this trial_.”


	16. Chapter 5: That day we started to remember, Part 3.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their evidence collected, the group makes their way to their fifth class trial will they be able to identify the victim or will they all face execution?

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, the remaining 12 students climbed out of it and looked around. The courtroom changed to a room that resembled a warehouse. Boxes were stacked on top of each other while the lights overhead swung wildly as if they were blowing in the wind, the entire room looked disgusting and grimy. The floors looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since a couple months ago and the air was stagnant and felt dry.

Monokuma popped out of the floor and the remaining 12 made their way to their own stands, Kenji looked over at the two empty spots and wondered if the unknown student must have placed their before they were hunted down and killed like an animal. He pushed the thought out of his mind and pulled out his e-handbook and notebook and waited for their fifth class trial to start.

-Class Trial… All Rise!-

Monokuma: “Alright here are the rules of the class trial! If you can figure out ‘who dunnit’ then the blackened will get executed! However if you fail to expose the blackened you all will get punished instead!”

Asuka: “You son of a- Ok you know what… I’m going to shut up and pretend I didn’t hear that for the gazillionth time this month!”

Celeste: “I think we should focus on this trial, but how will we begin it though?”

Toji: “She does have a point… Doesn’t this feel rather rushed?”

Kenji: ‘ _…Just what is Monokuma planning, we haven’t been able to gather enough evidence… I have a feeling this is going to end bad…_ ’

Minato: “Kenji calm down, we just need to start with what killed our victim in the first place.”

Kenji: “You’re right.”

Monokuma: “Upupupu~”

Kenji: ‘ _What’s up with him suddenly…? Forget about it, we gotta find out who killed this person!_ ’

-Truth Bullets:

  1. Monokuma File 5.
  2. Mysterious Hole in the victim’s head.
  3. Pick-axe.
  4. Back of the victim’s head.
  5. Spears of Gungnir.
  6. Victim’s scarred face.
  7. Bottles of Hydrofluoric Acid.
  8. Duralumin Arrows.
  9. Blood stained duct tape.
  10. Real Time of Death?
  11. Effects of Hydrofluoric Acid.



“Let’s begin the trial!”

~Non-stop debate 1~

-Present your evidence!-

  1. Monokuma File 5.
  2. Spears of Gungnir.
  3. Pick-axe
  4. Hydrofluoric Acid.



-Fuse Truth Bullets: Spears of Gungnir, Pick-axe & Hydrofluoric Acid?-

  * **> >>Yes**
  * No



-New Truth Bullet Obtained: Murder Weapons-

Minato: “We have to look at this case one step at a time.”

Minato: “Can any of you describe what **the** **murder weapon is**?”

Matsu: “Well the Monokuma File said that the body was stabbed repeatedly…”

Matsu: “ **So a sword must be the murder weapon**!”

Akira: “There are **no swords in this school** to begin with, unless you count that golden sword by the gym.”

Matsu: “See! **So a sword did kill the victim**!”

Kenji” No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet fired: Murder Weapons-

-Break!-

Kenji: “Actually Matsu, the sword didn’t kill anyone this time.”

Matsu: “Huh? Well would you explain why it isn’t the weapon?”

Minato: “Because the murder weapons were right in front of us the entire time you dunce.”

Matsu: “O-Oh really…?”

Kenji: “Yup, the Spears of Gungnir, the pick-axe and the bottles of Hydrofluoric Acid were all at the crime scene.”

Toji: “So those are the murder weapons huh, how did they kill the victim anyways?”

Mitsuru: “Matsu already said one method of murder while he was rambling on.”

Minato: “Yeah, the Spears are the objects that stabbed the vic repeatedly and nailed him to the wall.”

Minato: “Also what were the bottles of acid for?”

Asuka: “You know what they were used for man, why don’t you tell us?”

Minato: “Because I’m not your damn teacher, and you won’t learn anything if I explain it all to you.”

Kenji: ‘ _What were the acid bottles there for…?_ ’

  * For Decoration.
  * The killer wanted to decorate the dojo.
  * **_> >>The killer burned off the victim’s face_**.



Kenji: “The acid was used to burn off the victim’s face right?”

Matsu & Shoji: “Say whaaaaaaaaaa!?”

Minato: “Yup, the killer hid the identity of the victim to throw us off their trail.”

Minato: “And don’t act surprised that acid was used to burn off their face, when it’s listed in the Monokuma File.”

Matsu: “O-Oh yeah, I kinda forgot about the Monokuma File.”

Kenji: ‘ _Wow he really is a bit of a dunce…_ ’

Akira: “But what about the pick-axe though?”

Meiko: “Yeah she has a point, how does the pick-axe fit in all this?”

Celeste: “I think Kenji has the evidence for this one, don’t you all agree?”

Kenji: ‘ _Celeste is right, besides how do we know that the pick-axe was used in the first place?_ ’

-Select a Truth Bullet:

  1. Monokuma File 5.
  2. **_> >>Mysterious Hole in the victim’s head_**.
  3. Pick-axe.
  4. Back of the victim’s head.
  5. Spears of Gungnir.
  6. Victim’s scarred face.
  7. Bottles of Hydrofluoric Acid.
  8. Duralumin Arrows.
  9. Blood stained duct tape.
  10. Real Time of Death?
  11. Effects of Hydrofluoric Acid.



-Present Truth Bullet: Mysterious Hole in Victim’s Head?

  * **_> >>Yes_**.
  * No.



Kenji: “That mysterious hole in the body’s head, that’s where the pick-axe was used!”

Meiko: “Sorry for asking this… But how do you know that?”

Minato: “Because we both tried it ourselves.”

Meiko: “Wait… You guys did what now!?”

Minato: “Matsu brought us the pick-axe from the gardens and we tested it out by putting the pick-axe in the victim’s head.”

Matsu: “Yeah I’m still surprised that you two did that in the first place…”

Minato: “However, doesn’t this feel strange to all of you?”

Celeste: “What are you talking about?”

Minato: “This whole trial, everything is contradicting itself.”

Kenji: “You have that feeling too right?”

Monokuma: “Oh why don’t you tell us why you feel that way?”

Minato: “There isn’t enough evidence and our entire investigation time was only allowed up to thirty minutes instead of an hour and a half.”

Minato: “The inconsistencies keep piling up along with the faked time of death that’s listed in the Monokuma File, it seems that Monokuma and the Mastermind had been planning something.”

Mitsuru: “How is the time fake?”

Minato: “It doesn’t take a genius to pick up a Chemistry Textbook and read that the effects of Hydrofluoric Acid don’t kick in till a day after someone came in contact with it.”

Kenji: “Meaning that the victim was killed the night before…”

Minato: “And that the victim was already dead before they had the acid splashed on them, and even if they tried to use fire…”

Matsu: “The entire dojo would’ve been caught up in flames…”

Akira: “What the hell are you getting at!? There has to be a culprit this time around!”

Minato: “I’m sure there is a culprit but… Even I can’t tell who it could be…”

Celeste: “What about alibis? Both of us went to the dojo at 10PM and there was no body there.”

Matsu: “I went back to my room to draw.”

Toji: “I was with Meiko and Akira; we were spray painting one of the walls.”

Mitsuru: “…I was in my room reading.”

Shoji: “I was in the baths relaxing and working on something in private…”

Shinji: “I was with both Yukari and Asuka and we all were training in our room.”

Mitsuru: “So we all have solid alibis… All of us but one person…”

Everyone turned their gaze to Kenji who was mortified that they all pinned the blame on him; he backed away from his stand and shook his head while muttering ‘No…’ Minato however slammed his fist down on the stand; he then shouted “You’ve all got this wrong! Kenji didn’t kill anyone!” However Monokuma shouted over the Gamer.

“Alright then, let’s vote!”

-Voting commencing-

-Kenji Katsuragi has been chosen as the blackened-

Kenji shook his head and his eyes widened with surprise, the entirety of his class voted him as the killer but Monokuma turned his head towards Minato and laughed at him. “Why would you vote for yourself? You should be glad that it was majority rules this time.” But Minato only turned away from Monokuma and looked at Shoji and they both nodded at each other before the two of them then turned their gaze towards Kenji along with the rest of the students.

“You all… This trial was rigged! It was fucked up!” Kenji shouted but everyone only looked down at the floor while the button rose out of the ground, Monokuma pulled out his small hammer and slammed the button down. Kenji only shook his head and continued shouting at the others before Minato looked back up at him and winked.

“I’ll be seeing you soon man, just hold in there…”

Kenji only gave Minato a puzzled look before a chain wrapped around his neck and he was dragged off to his execution.

-Execution: The (un)Lucky Student’s Target Practice-

When Kenji opened his eyes, he saw that he was chained to a pole. He began to struggle against the restraints as guns lowered down from the ceiling and took aim at him; Kenji gritted his teeth as they began to fire around him. Each shot getting closer and closer until he started to feel the heat from every single blast, he looked up and saw that everyone was looking at him while both Minato and Shoji pointed upwards.

The Lucky Student looked up and saw that Alter Ego appeared on the monitors, when the final gun reached face level with him. Kenji closed his eyes as he heard it charge up its blast, however just as he opened his eyes all he saw was the entire execution room and the gun quickly disappear from view as the sound of an explosion was heard from above him.

-Execution end-

Monokuma dropped the button as he began to hit his head on the wall behind him, “That damn program interfered again… Why is that stupid program back!? I thought we got rid of him out of the school’s network!” He shouted as Minato and Shoji both gave a relaxed sigh, the rest of the class looked at them with confused looks on their faces and Shoji looked at Monokuma.

“It seems that what you had planned for Kenji went south huh?” Shoji exclaimed as Monokuma turned his gaze to the remaining 11 students who all were looking at the bear; however Monokuma began to laugh as he ran over to the hole and peered down it. The entirety of the class also looked down the hole while he looked up at them and covered his mouth with his paws and laughed even harder.

“Upupupu~ I wonder if he will enjoy rotting in the basement…” Monokuma began but Minato cut him off with a chuckle and shook his head, the bear turned his gaze over to the gamer who placed a hand on his own chin and smiled at the bear.

“Kenji isn’t going to the basement like that other student; let’s say that Alter Ego sent him outside the walls of the Academy.”

Everyone gave Minato and Shoji a confused look while Monokuma growled and glared at all of them, but he regained his composure and began laughing once more. “Upupu~ Well then… Maybe the horrors of the outside world will get him… Upupu…Upupupu~”

-Meanwhile…-

Kenji was screaming as he was travelling at high speeds through the tunnels of the academy, looking down he saw that a light was approaching him quickly or that he was approaching it. The next thing he knew the chains around him released and he was sent flying towards a group of tents, Kenji made contact with the grey ground as he heard the chain land a few feet away from him and the pole landing right beside him. Looking up he saw a few suited people running towards him, the lucky student looked up while muttering. “Kill me if you want… Ahaha…” He felt himself being picked up before finally blacking out.

After what felt like an eternity of sleep and random dreams and images of him and the others sitting in a classroom, hanging out and doing other things in Hope’s Peak. The visions came to an end when he saw a large metallic door close and an explosion was heard, he sat up quickly and looked around. He was lying on a bed in a white tent, getting up he put on his hoodie and looked around the tent, noticing a photo on the table to the right of him. He walked over to it and saw the words ‘Class 78 of Hope’s Peak Academy’ on the bottom of the photo; looking over it he saw faces that started to look familiar to him, he even saw a student wearing the same tie as Minato and he saw that Celeste was in this photo too.

“Huh… Why is Celeste in this photo…?” He muttered to himself but was cut off by another voice that came from behind him.

“That’s because that’s the real Celestia Ludenberg, or by her real name of Taeko Yasuhiro.” The voice said and Kenji turned around and saw a lilac haired girl looking at him, the Lucky Student grabbed a chair firmly and looked at her. She only smiled and walked over to him,

“Don’t worry, Kenji… I’m not going to hurt you at all; I only want you to come with me since there are two other people who want to talk to you.” She added while leaving the tent, Kenji put the chair down and followed her outside the tent. When he exited out of the tent he saw something that amazed him.

It was the outside world, but it looked grey and even the skies were over casted with dark grey clouds. Looking over to his left he saw the lilac haired girl beckoning him to follow her so he did, as he was walking through the camp he saw that there were tons of people running around and some were talking and shouting into various phones, he looked into one tent and saw that there were monitors lined all over the walls of the tent. He gazed into another one and saw that one of the monitors was looking at the head of a gigantic Monokuma, turning to his right he saw the academy and a bunch of ruined buildings surrounding it.

He was shocked to see that the academy looked rather unscathed for the most part while the rest of the surrounding buildings were in ruins. However he was snapped out of his revere when the same girl called him into a large tent that was situated beside a destroyed wall, when he entered it he saw that there were two other people standing beside her. He cleared his throat and introduced himself to the three of them.

“…My name is Kenji Katsuragi and I’m the Super High School Level Lucky Student… Tell me who you guys are.”

The blond haired boy pushed his glasses up his nose and also introduced himself to Kenji,

“My name is Byakuya Togami, I used to the Super High School Level Heir but now I’m a member of the Future Foundation.”

The lilac haired girl who brought Kenji to the tent looked at him and also introduced herself,

“I’m Kyoko Kirigiri and I was the Super High School Level Detective but I too am also working for the Future Foundation.”

The last boy who was watching the monitors turned around and also faced Kenji too; his brown hair was the first thing that the Lucky Student noticed about this other boy. He looked about Kenji’s age and smiled when he saw Kenji, “It’s a real pleasure to meet you Kenji Katsuragi, and I was just like you. I also had the title of Super High School Level Lucky Student but now I’m the Super High School Level Hope who works with the Future Foundation…"

“Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Makoto Naegi and I’m also a member of the Future Foundation along with Kyoko and Byakuya.”

“Makoto… Naegi…? You mean you are the other survivors of that other mutual killing game…?”

Makoto nodded as he walked over to Kenji and held his hand out towards him, “I want to help you and your friends get out of that Academy, will you listen to what I have to say?”

Kenji looked at Makoto before nodding and shaking his hand, the other Lucky Student smiled at Kenji once more.

“Perfect, I believe that if we both work together we can get everyone out without any casualties… But I think we should go back to when this all began.”

“Began…? What are you talking about…?”

“…To when The Tragedy started two years ago.”

“…The… Tragedy…?”

Chapter 5: The day we started to remember… Part 3 end.

-Remaining Students-

  1. Kenji Katsuragi.
  2. Meiko Nakashima.
  3. Minato Shirogane.
  4. Celestia Ludenberg.
  5. Toji Kuzunoha.
  6. Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  7. Shoji Suzuhara.
  8. Shinji Morishige.
  9. Yukari Morishige.
  10. Asuka Yoshida.
  11. Akira Hohaku.
  12. Mitsuru Shishido.



-List of the deceased-

  1. Hikari Shinohara.
  2. Eikichi Takeba.
  3. Shinichi Nakamura.
  4. Kaori Suou.
  5. Katsuya Ikari.
  6. Takeshi Narukami.
  7. Saeko Yasuhiro.




	17. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the final trial among them, will Kenji Katsuragi and his friends finally find out the mysteries of the academy and will they be able to escape?

-Previously on Danganronpa: Infinite Despair-  
  
“I think we should go back to when this all began.”

“Began…? What are you talking about…?”

“…To when The Tragedy started two years ago.”

“…The… Tragedy…?”

Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 1

Kenji let go of Makoto’s hand and gave him a confused gaze, what was he even talking about? The Tragedy and what happened two years ago? What did that even mean? Makoto seemed to notice this and leaned back on the desk behind him; Kenji took a step forward and shook his head. “What are you talking about? What tragedy!? This has to be some sort of nightmare; I mean we only arrived here a couple weeks ago…” Kenji exclaimed but he was cut off by Kyoko who turned her gaze from the monitors to him.

“We thought the same thing too when we were trapped in Hope’s Peak too, but the same thing must have happened to all of you.” She replied as the Lucky Student’s expression dropped, then his memory had finally caught up with him. The list of names and the description of the first mutual killing, as he was about to open his mouth he was once again cut off by Kirigiri.

“I saw that you did find that little note in the fifth floor classroom, it seems that the mastermind placed it there for you to find.”

“Wait a moment, How did you know that I found that list?” The Lucky Student asked and Kirigiri turned her head towards the monitors, he walked over to them and saw that they all were displaying various rooms of the academy just like the data collection room. “So you were the guys that have been watching us the entire time… Why… WHY DIDN’T YOU GUYS DONE ANYTHING TO PREVENT OUR FRIENDS DYING!?” Kenji shouted at the three of them but Makoto looked down at his feet and clenched his fists, he saw that the Future Foundation agent was trying his best to make eye contact with Kenji but did his best to avoid looking at him.

Makoto then looked at Kenji and sighed, “…It’s because the mastermind rigged the entire place to explode if we entered the building while you were all in it.” Makoto muttered and looked away from Kenji, the Lucky Student’s expression dropped when Makoto revealed their reason for not entering the academy and saving them. But Kenji once again looked at the monitors and saw that everyone was sitting around in the dining hall and of course Minato was nowhere to be seen again, looking back towards the three of the former Hope’s Peak Academy students. Kenji clenched his fists and gulped before asking.

“…What was this ‘Tragedy’ you spoke of? What does that even mean…?”

The three of them exchanged a look of worry to each other, like what they were about to tell him would break his soul and cause him to fall into despair. But Makoto crossed his arms and leaned backwards on the desk behind him; he asked if Kenji was ready to listen to a long explanation about The Tragedy. Kenji nodded and Makoto gave him a small smile and cleared his throat.

“Like I mentioned before, the origins of The Tragedy began two years ago when a student and a group of people calling themselves Super High School Level Despair aimed to force the world to bend to the will of Despair. At the height of the “Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in The History of Mankind”, we were all locked inside Hope’s Peak Academy… and we classmates… were made to slaughter each other.” Makoto said while Kenji interrupted him and shouted out ‘S-Slaughter each other!?’ and the boy nodded. Closing his eyes in thought he continued the explanation of the tragedy.

“After that only six of us remained out of the fifteen that was locked inside the academy, we had no idea that you all were sealed within another part of the academy the entire time… However what made it worse is that our mutual killing was broadcasted all over the country, which was a plan by the mastermind to spread another form of despair… If the country saw that the students of hope began killing each other out of despair… Then everyone else would also fall to despair too…” The brown haired boy added and Kenji gritted his teeth, images of his dead friends came floating back into his mind. All the despair that was caused for both Makoto’s class and his class pissed him off, all the wails of despair that he had heard while they were trapped in the academy and even the sound of Minato’s cries when he was holding Kaori’s body echoed in his ears.

“Does that mean that… that our mutual killing game was also broadcasted to the country…?” Kenji muttered but Makoto looked away from him and sighed.  
“We managed to jam the signals after the first trial…”  
Kenji growled when he heard that, the image of Hikari’s smiling face invaded his mind but was quickly replaced by the image of her body lying on the cold floor of the laundry room. He winced at the thought and wondered if anyone who was part of that ‘Super High School Level Despair’ group got off to their despair but quickly discarded that thought for the moment when Makoto continued to speak.

“But… After that, we bid farewell to Hope’s Peak Academy and left for the outside world. However, the outside world was in a worse state than we ever imagined, and we were honestly crushed… despite that, we supported each other as surviving comrades and managed to move forward. Shortly after, we were given shelter by the Future Foundation and became members of the organization. To fight against those calling themselves the ‘Remnants of Despair’ we believe that the remnants were possibly the ones who trapped you all within the walls of the academy…”

He once again growled when he heard that these ‘Remnants of Despair’ were the ones, who trapped them all in the academy. Kenji’s memory floated back to the name that Minato told him on the staircase ‘Jin Arisato’ and he was the one with the title of ‘Super High School Level Despair’ is Jin one of those remnants of despair that Makoto had mentioned.

“The Remnants of Despair… my friend, Minato Shirogane told me of a boy in our class whose name was Jin Arisato and he had the title of Super High School Level Despair too… Is it possible that this Jin Arisato is also a remnant of despair?” Kenji asked while Kyoko handed him a file that was labeled ‘Class 79 Student Roster’

Opening it he saw all their profiles and when he finally flipped to a page labeled, ‘Jin Arisato’. Looking at his photo he saw that he was young man whose white hair stood out the most to Kenji, looking over his profile he saw that his real title was the ‘Super High School Level Ground Self-Defense Force Member’ and that this profile stated that he was a very charismatic young man and a revered member of the JSDF who had obtained the title of Major at the age of 16. Although there were some signs that he was possibly losing his mind by the time he was accepted at Hope’s Peak Academy and was frequently seen muttering to himself and that he was often heard muttering about ‘despair’.  
After reading the file over a couple of times he tucked it under his arm and looked at the three of them, he sighed and added. “Who was the mastermind who trapped you all inside Hope’s Peak Academy?”

“Her name was… Junko Enoshima…” Makoto replied as Kenji’s eyes widened at the mention of Junko’s name, he had heard Meiko mention her numerous times in the past then again he knew about Junko Enoshima’s reputation as one of the top fashion models in the country that even Meiko Nakashima paled in comparison to Junko’s popularity.

“She was the one behind the mutual killing- No… the entire Tragedy that has engulfed the world… Junko Enoshima is the person known as the “True Super High School Level Despair” that caused the Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in The History of Mankind and one of our former classmates during our time at Hope’s Peak Academy.” He added while Kenji was trying his best to piece all of this together, while he was trying his best to piece it all together it all seemed too fictional. This was like something out of a cliché manga that even Matsu would toss out the window if he got his hands on it.

“All of this… All of this is confusing, but how did my class even survive in the first place!? That’s what I wanna know, if Junko was the mastermind and if she had complete control of the school… Then why didn’t she place us with all of you while you were all killing each other!?”

This time it was Kyoko who finally spoke after remaining silent the whole time, “That we don’t know exactly… However according to the files that were left behind by the headmaster around the time of the start of the tragedy… it seems that a backup plan was that if one of the despairs infiltrated the school, the remaining students or survivors were supposed to be locked in a vault underneath the academy or in a separate part of the school… However…” She paused and gazed over at the plans of the academy that were pinned up on a corkboard to her right, “It seems that the location of the vault or even this secret compound was kept secret and well hidden for the most part…”

“So… You think that we were kept in another part of the academy or sealed in some sort of a vault for the duration of the tragedy and your mutual killing game? Then how come I… How come I don’t remember any of this…? I sure as hell would’ve remembered being locked in something or put somewhere… All of this is grade A certified bullshit!” Kenji shouted as he kicked a chair and it went flying into the cork-board, Kyoko walked over to Kenji and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, he looked at her and turned away from them all. The Lucky Student still couldn’t believe this, how come he doesn’t remember anything that they just told him the tragedy, being locked in a vault or another part of the academy. This all seemed like a horrible nightmare but Byakuya broke his train of thought.

“You are all suffering from amnesia, amnesia caused by those who trapped you within the academy.” The Heir replied, Kenji turned around and looked at Byakuya who once again pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he shook his head in disbelief. They had to have been talking bullshit at this point, but Byakuya seemed to sense Kenji’s thoughts and gazed right at him.

“We are not lying… We were also given amnesia by the mastermind during our mutual killing.” The Heir muttered as Kenji clenched his fists tighter while looking at the ground.

The silence was heavy as Kenji tried his best to comprehend all the information that he had gotten so far, however someone busted into the tent while shouting. “Look at the monitors, quickly!” 

They all turned to look at the monitors and saw that three students were fighting against Monokuma, Kenji quickly identified them as Shinji, Yukari and Asuka. And by the looks of they were fighting him in the gym, he turned and dashed out of the tent as Kyoko shouted at him to stop, but Kenji had ran towards the tent with the large monitors and saw all three of them were ganging up on the bear. Shinji was the first one to lunge at Monokuma followed by Yukari then Asuka and they were fighting him simultaneously, Kenji gritted his teeth and looked towards the Academy that was peering down at him and he began to run towards the school but was grabbed by Kyoko.

“Are you insane? Don’t you realize that you can’t get back inside?” Byakuya said as Kenji glared at him; however what Togami said next sent Kenji into a flying rage.

 

“You realize that sacrifices needed to be made, and Alter Ego made that possible by saving one of you only… You cannot return to the academy at this point and you should leave them all there…” But he was cut off by a sucker punch from Kenji, the Lucky Student then broke out of Kyoko’s iron grip and tackled the heir to the ground and began punching him repeatedly.

“YOU. SON. OF. A. BITCH! I’M NOT LEAVING MY FRIENDS BEHIND!” Kenji shouted with each punch but was eventually pulled off by a couple members of the Future Foundation including Kyoko and Makoto; however Kenji also broke free from their grip too and pointed at Togami who was wiping his chin clean from the bit of blood that leaked out of his mouth. “Don’t you dare say that I need to leave them behind, I need to save them since they are the only ones who kept me sane in that place!” He once again shouted, everyone all looked at him and some even backed away from Kenji. Looking down at his hands he saw that he was shaking and wondered for a moment if he was channeling the spirit of Kaori Suou for the reason behind his sudden outburst.

He also backed away and looked at the academy, everything seemed to be confusing still but what was he going to do at this point? Byakuya was right, there was no way back into the academy and if he was lucky he might find out that all of his friends were killed by Monokuma and the mastermind. But his thoughts were once again derailed but by Kyoko this time who handed him a key with a Monokuma symbol on it.

“Follow me…” She muttered and she walked away from him, the detective nodded at both Byakuya and Makoto and they also followed her too. Kenji shook his head and also followed the three former students, as they were walking he noticed that they were going a bit farther away from the academy and he was getting worried by this point. When they finally stopped he saw that they were standing around a large grate in the ground, Kyoko then pulled out a flashlight and a USB stick.

“What’s all this for?” He asked while she pulled open the grate and flashed the flashlight inside the hole, he looked down it and saw that it was pitch black but with a few flickering lights flashing. She then handed him the flashlight and the USB and smiled at him.

“Kenji… This tunnel will lead you to the garbage room; use that key to unlock the door that’s at the top of the staircase and climb up the ladder to a small balcony and rest there for a bit. We will tell Alter Ego to send someone down to meet you there also give this USB to Shoji… Have him install this with Alter Ego so we can disable the self-destruct system that the Mastermind has put in place that prevents us from entering.” Kyoko said while Kenji smiled and nodded, she then handed him the class roster along with another file that had the notes from the headmaster and the supposed location for the vault or the safe area that they were in. He was handed a bag from Makoto who placed all the files in the bag and gave it to Kenji.

As he put it on and was about to enter the hole, he looked at them and smiled. “Hey Byakuya… Sorry about punching you in the face.” He said with a chuckle as Togami scoffed and turned away from him, “Kyoko… Makoto… Thank you all so much… Will you all be able to help us when the time comes?” He asked and they both nodded and smiled at him, Kenji finally jumped though the grate and waved farewell to the trio as he made his way towards the academy.

Kyoko had finally shut the grate and sighed, “He is… an interesting character indeed…” she chuckled and looked down at it while both Makoto and Byakuya nodded in agreement; they all had the same thoughts on their mind that Kenji and his friends would finally put an end to the mastermind this time who trapped them all in the academy.

Byakuya looked at Makoto and asked him why he cared so much for these students and Makoto replied, “Remember what I said to you after the siege of Towa City?”

-Flashback-

“…Yeah, you’re right. …Byakuya, I’ve decided. If something like this happens again… no matter how dangerous it gets… I’m going to dive right in. I’ll put an end to it… with my own hands.”

-Flashback end-

“And I mean it this time, there’s no way that I’m going to let these ones die or that they have to suffer any more casualties… And that’s a promise.”

“I believe that we should tell Alter Ego to get ready and that we should prepare ourselves for what’s about to come.” Byakuya replied as he started to make his way back to the camp, Kyoko soon followed as they were walking back, Makoto once again looked down at the grate and muttered.

“You can do it Kenji… Don’t lose hope you guys…”

-Meanwhile… Under Hope’s Peak Academy: Basement-

When Kenji had finally reached the basement of the academy, he was tired. Walking through an endless tunnel wasn’t the best thing to do but if it got him closer to saving his friends he would do it, looking though the basement he saw that there were many things strewn about such as an old rocket with a Monokuma on the top of it and an old red fire truck with a large rabbit laying on top of it, he also saw a discarded motorcycle in a cage and a bulldozer lying beside it. He ignored that for now and made his way up the steps towards the large doors, Kenji pushed on them and they were locked, pulling out the key that was given to him by Kyoko and inserted it into the lock. Turning the key it finally unlocked and popped open.

Kenji walked through the doors and looked up, the ladder seemed to extend far into the sky though the darkness, gulping hard he started to make his way up the ladder. Many thoughts had invaded his mind during the long climb towards the school, the thoughts were mostly ones of the identities of the mastermind and who the remnants of despair really were and why they had trapped them all inside of the academy and how he and his friends were able to escape Junko Enoshima’s despair filled wrath the first time around.

As he reached the platform that Kyoko told him about, he decided to rest for a bit and see if he could catch a small nap before continuing the rest of his long climb. However as he was about to doze off he heard someone calling his name before being violently shaken by someone strong, opening his eyes he saw that Minato was looking at him and was smiling, Kenji stood up quickly as Minato wrapped him in a tight hug and began sobbing. “I…I…I h-h-honestly thought we l-lost ya man!” The gamer shouted in between sobs and Kenji patted him on the head and smiled, he was glad that someone was happy to find him but had to tell Minato to let him go or else he would’ve been crushed by his hugs.

Minato let go of Kenji and reached into his bag and pulled out a couple water bottles and some food for Kenji to eat, the moment he pulled out the food, Kenji began to wolf it down like it was nothing and even drank two of the water bottles quickly before tossing them down the garbage chute. Looking up at Minato who was also looking up towards the ceiling he chuckled “How did you know where to find me?” He asked as Minato turned his gaze to him and scratched under his nose with his index finger.

“Alter Ego told us what happened and how you managed to get outside the academy with our help… He also told us that you were coming up the garbage chute and that someone needed to meet him, and behold I decided to come and save you!”

Kenji smiled and stood up; he signalled towards the ladder and began to climb it with Minato following him. “Y’know… I’m starting to remember about my school life here, I mean it’s only coming back in bits… But everything is falling into place…” Minato said as Kenji looked down at him for a second before continuing climbing up.

“Oh?”

“Yeah… The fact that I remember that I met you guys a few months after Class 78 was introduced and we were placed in Class 79, we all were friends… Real close friends, yeah we had our quarrels but we were like siblings that could never be separated no matter what… And that’s where it all goes foggy… Everything just disappears after that but more of it comes back every hour or day almost…”

“You know… When I was talking to Makoto, Kyoko and Byakuya… They did mention something about us having amnesia.”

“I figured as much, now I know what Kaori was talking about when she was dying… How that we had all met each other before… She actually remembered our school life together, I wish she could’ve told me more but that’s what Katsuya’s journal was for.”

“His Journal?”

“Yeah remember that time I told you to meet me at the data room? Well I used that time to go through Katsuya’s things and he had a whole journal full of his memories that he had when he hit his head on the second floor, he started getting his back and he wanted to get mine and Kaori’s back since we were close to him while we were students here.”

Kenji remained silent, he was surprised but also saddened that Kaori and Katsuya managed to get their memories back but it also made sense to what he was asked back on the second floor about his own memories from Katsuya. The thought filled him with sadness as he continued up the ladder; the two remained silent for the rest of the climb until Kenji saw a hatch right above him, he pushed on it and it opened. They both were greeted by the bright lights of the garbage room, when they both climbed out of it; the Lucky Student dusted himself off and looked at Minato who was also dusting himself off too.

“So… What now?”

“We talk to Monokuma you ditz.”

-Hope’s Peak Academy Gym-

The sound of yelling was all that came from the gym as Monokuma saw that both Kenji and Minato entered the gym; he was getting worked up over the fact that Kenji had survived his execution.

“Why is Kenji still alive!? He was supposed to be executed!” The bear shouted but Minato chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

“You realize that old tricks don’t work again right? So the Future Foundation found a way to save the kid from your twisted execution y’know.” Minato replied while Kenji nodded and he thought of the trio watching them at that very moment, but Monokuma was still not happy that Kenji had survived and he was even starting to speak in gibberish.

“The rules of a class trial are that the one who was chosen needs to get executed! And Kenji was chosen as the blackened so he will need to be punished again!” Monokuma once again shouted at them but Minato once again spoke over Monokuma.

“Do as you want… But realize that this will not be a game anymore for you, Monokuma… Besides I’m sure that you want those who are watching this to not be disappointed by your brutal methods of causing despair, correct?” He replied as Kenji looked at him like he had lost his mind, then again he had to agree with Minato on this one.

“How about we have a re-trial… a trial for the murder of that mysterious student and for the mysteries surrounding this school, think of this trial as a final boss battle for all our futures!” Minato added as he pointed at Monokuma who started to laugh at the both of them, Kenji was still giving his friend that ‘what are you doing!?’ look but had to agree with him once again.

“Upupu… Upupupu… Do you know what will happen if you don’t manage to solve the mystery?”

Minato fell silent and gritted his teeth, he even knew that this was going to be a big gamble but they all needed to go through with it or else they all would be trapped within the walls of the academy forever. Minato looked at Kenji and they both nodded and looked at Monokuma, “Yup! You all will be executed instead and I’m sure you all wouldn’t want that would you~?”

“Buuuuuuuuuut… I do agree to your terms but remember that if you don’t solve everything… You all will be joining the rest of your dear friends upupupupu~”  
“Well I for one can’t wait for this to end, because I will be the one laughing as you fall into deeper despair after we solve the mystery of this school.” The Gamer added as he turned around and started to make his way out of the gym, Kenji soon followed and as they were leaving the duo both heard Monokuma laughing at them even as they both shut the doors to the gym.

-Hope’s Peak Academy: Dorm Dining Hall-

The remaining ten students all sat around the dining hall, Celeste and Meiko were tending to the wounds that Shinji, Yukari and Asuka had gotten while they were fighting Monokuma. Shinji’s chest had two large claw marks on it while the others had small wounds such as bruises and cuts, “There you go… You should be resting a bit…” Meiko muttered as Shinji stood up but almost fell over, he growled and tried to push her away so he could go fight Monokuma but as he was about to continue moving they all saw two familiar faces walk through the doors.

Meiko dropped what she was holding and she ran over to Kenji and hugged him tightly, “I’m so sorry… I should’ve realized that you weren’t the killer…” She said to him while trying to hold back her tears, everyone else also came running to Kenji and Minato and they all hugged him and even slapped him on the back while saying sorry that they all voted for him.

“It’s alright all of you, I understand that you all were swayed by Monokuma but really… It’s alright!”

Everyone all nodded while Minato stood beside Kenji and cleared his throat.  
“Alright you guys, the final class trial will be held soon so we should all get ready for what’s about to come…” Minato said as everyone gave each other a relieved or a scared look on their faces, Toji shouted ‘what really!? The final one!?’ and Minato nodded.

Kenji pushed past everyone and stood on one of the tables, he cleared his throat and everyone looked up at him. “I know we’ve been through a lot of shit these past few weeks… But if we all work together and solve the mysteries of this school then we win this trial, and knowing us… If we put our heads together, then I know we will be able to pull it off and put the mastermind in their place for good!” Kenji shouted as everyone cheered, he pulled out the USB and threw it to Shoji and explained what it was for and the Hacker nodded and turned around. But as he was about to leave the room, Monokuma appeared on the screen and looked at all the students. Kenji turned around and looked straight at Monokuma and gave him the darkest glare he could do.

“Upupupu~ well it seems that it’s time for the curtain to fall on this chapter, it seems that there were others who had set foot in this academy… Sixteen students roamed the halls of this academy before you came here, why and how didn’t you all get caught before…? Let’s see if you can solve this mystery for once… Upupupu~” The bear said as Kenji looked down at the bag carrying all the files that was given to him by Kyoko, all the files about them and whatever else they could use for evidence to help them in this trial.

As Monokuma disappeared from the screen, Kenji glared up at it and gritted his teeth.

‘ _There’s no way in hell that I’m gonna lose here… I’ll make sure that we all get out of here alive._ ’

Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 1… End.

 


	18. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 2 Side A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twelve survivors must now find out the mysteries of the academy and also find enough evidence for their final class trial, so they decide to split up into two groups.

-Previously on Danganronpa: Infinite Despair-  
  
“Upupupu~ well it seems that it’s time for the curtain to fall on this chapter, it seems that there were others who had set foot in this academy… Sixteen students roamed the halls of this academy before you came here, why and how didn’t you all get caught before…? Let’s see if you can solve this mystery for once… Upupupu~” The bear said as Kenji looked down at the bag carrying all the files that was given to him by Kyoko, all the files about them and whatever else they could use for evidence to help them in this trial.  
  
As Monokuma disappeared from the screen, Kenji glared up at it and gritted his teeth.  
  
‘There’s no way in hell that I’m gonna lose here… I’ll make sure that we all get out of here alive.’  
  
Chapter 6, Part 2: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy, Minato’s Side.  
  
“Upupupu~ your final class trial is coming soon; in order to make this a fair investigation I will unlock every single door in the academy… Have fun and try your best to solve the mystery!”  
  
The remaining twelve were all silent, their final class trial was fast approaching and they need to investigate. But with such a large number it would be hard to investigate the entire school individually; Kenji stood over a list of names and tried putting people into groups before Minato grabbed the list and started to place the remaining students in equal groups.  
  
“Alright, I’ll be taking Celeste, Matsu, Shinji, Shoji and Asuka with me, Kenji… You’ll be taking Meiko, Mitsuru, Yukari, Akira and Toji.” The Gamer called out as the students all got into a group behind their respective leader, Kenji looked at Meiko and gave her a small reassuring smile and she nodded. Minato cleared his throat and held up his e-handbook and pointed at the map, “I have pinpointed some places that are great for investigating, Kenji you guys will head up to the fourth floor and investigate the data center, the headmaster’s office, the staff office and the fifth floor. My group will be exploring the second floor dorms and we will meet up with you on the fourth floor to continue investigating…” Putting his e-handbook in his pocket, he grinned and held his hand out towards Kenji.

“Let’s put an end to this damn twisted game.” He added while Kenji nodded and also grabbed Minato’s hand and shook it.  
  
The two groups split up the moment they heard the investigation siren play though the intercoms, the group of six that stood beside Minato all waited for Kenji’s group to leave the dorms before they started their investigation.

-Investigation Start, Part 1-  
  
“So chief… Where should we go first?” Shoji asked and Minato pointed towards the staircase by the supply closet, the group of six made their way up the stairs and saw what state the second floor dorms were in. Most of them gasped while the others continued onwards towards the room at the end of the hall, Toji however peeked into one of the destroyed dorm rooms and covered his mouth at what he saw. Minato also looked inside and saw that this room was completely destroyed save for a bed and a puddle of dried blood in the middle of the room and on the shredded bed the two of them quickly left the room and joined up with the others who were looking around too.  
  
Turning his head to the right, Minato glanced over the railing and gazed down towards the first floor dorms. There he saw a vision that was once again trying to interfere with his current memories, once again looking down at the first floors dorms he saw that he was walking with Shoji, Toji, Matsu and that Hifumi boy from earlier but it looked like they all were laughing at each other and the vision ended when they all encountered Celeste and Kaori who waved at them. Touching the left side of his face, the gamer raised his head and saw a giant red Eye of Horus gazing back at him, he took a moment to collect himself until he heard buzzing coming from the room behind him and a voice saying “You idiot that’s not going to work!”.  
  
Entering the room he noticed that Shinji and Matsu were in front of one of the many ruined lockers that surrounded them, most of the lockers were ruined, but a few seemed  intact for the most part. Walking over to the pair Matsu began to swipe his e-handbook over the lock a couple times before giving up, Shinji pushed him aside and began kicking it furiously but to no avail. “Well that’s a load of bullshit.” The Boxer muttered as he started to punch it repeatedly until he finally gave up and stormed out of the room, Matsu and Minato both shrugged and this time he stood in front of the locker.

“So what’s the deal with this anyways?” Minato asked as Matsu once again shrugged and walked over to one of the other lockers and began swiping his e-handbook over the scanner again, Minato pulled out his own e-handbook and pressed it over the scanner but it had no effect and he was greeted with a loud buzzing noise. He sighed and turned to leave the room with Matsu following him too, what were those lockers for in the first place? Were they for their upperclassman?   
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Second Floor Lockers-  
  
The duo finally caught up with the others who were standing outside the door at the far end of the hall. Minato pulled out his handbook again and looked at the map, “The Headmaster’s room?”  
  
Celeste looked over his shoulder and tapped her chin with her finger, “This room… I wonder if it will hold and crucial evidence for us…” But Minato gulped and made his way towards the door as Asuka and Shinji barged in front of him and kicked the door down at the same time, a loud crash was followed after a large amount of dust flew into the air and finally settled they were greeted by a room that hadn’t been destroyed yet, Shoji asked if kicking the door down was needed and both Shinji and Asuka replied with a simple ‘Yes.” As the group filed into the Headmaster’s Room.  
  
Everyone began looking around for any evidence but there was nothing of value to the group at all, Minato walked over to the PC and turned it on. It seemed that it was only in sleep mode the entire time, everyone huddled around the computer as Minato began searching though the documents labeled ‘Hope’s Peak Academy Roster for Class 77 and 78’, ‘Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster’, ‘Suspected members of Super High School Level Despair’, ‘Data collected on Super High School Level Despair’, ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’s Vault back up plan’ and a video simply titled ‘Class 79 interviews’. Minato hovered over the Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster document and clicked on it, a word document came up and it showed all their names in a neat list with all their titles.

  1. Kenji Katsuragi: Super High School Level Lucky Student.
  2. Meiko Nakashima: Super High School Level Fashion Diva.
  3. Minato Shirogane: Super High School Level Gamer.
  4. Kaori Suou: Super High School Level Gang Leader.
  5. Kaori Suo/Celestia Ludenberg: Super High School Level Impersonator/Gambler.
  6. Toji Kuzunoha: Super High School Level Graffiti Artist.
  7. Shoji Suzuhara: Super High School Level Hacker.
  8. Matsumoto Kishinuma: Super High School Level Otaku.
  9. Shinji Morishige: Super High School Level Boxer.
  10. Yukari Morishige: Super High School Martial Artist.
  11. Shinichi Nakamura: Super High School Level Strategist.
  12. Asuka Yoshida: Super High School Level Author.
  13. Katsuya Ikari: Super High School Level Hitman.
  14. Takeshi Narukami: Super High School Level Doctor.
  15. Hikari Shinohara: Super High School Level Actress.
  16. Akira Hohaku: Super High School Level Body Modifier.
  17. Eikichi Takeba: Super High School Level Casanova.
  18. Mitsuru Shishido: Super High School Level Heiress.
  19. Jin Arisato: Super High School Level Ground Self-Defense Force Member.
  20. Naomi Arisato: Super High School Level Ground Self-Defense Force Member.
  21. Sora Kigiri: Super High School Level Sweets Connoisseur.
  22.  Hiroshi Nobu: Super High school Level Masseuse
  23.  Minako Shirogane: Super High School Level Private Investigator.



Teacher name:

  1. • Saeko Yasuhiro.



Minato saw the last four names on the list and was bewildered; three other names that didn’t seem familiar to him at all however when he read over Sora’s name his memory of her came back in an instant. “Hey… Do any of you guys remember a Sora Kigiri…? Cuz I’m sure that she was among us when we woke up in the entrance hall…” The Gamer asked as everyone gave him slightly confused looks, Minato placed a hand on his chin and sighed. He remembered that Sora was with them when they started the Mutual Killing game and after the first trial she just disappeared, this was strange indeed but he decided to talk to Meiko since she seemed close to the missing Sora.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Sora Kigiri’s location-

Minato decided to look at the other names on the list too and indeed saw that Jin’s name was also on the roster along with a girl named Naomi Arisato, Minato wondered for a moment if that girl was related to Jin or perhaps was his younger sister. Scanning his eyes down the list again, one name in particular stood out to him.  
  
“Minako… Shirogane… No…” The gamer muttered as he covered his mouth, his sister’s name was right there under another student’s name. Minato only looked down and hit thoughts began to run wild at the various scenarios that were playing in his head about the fate of his sister, what ever became of Minako and why wasn’t she with them in the mutual killing game was it possible that she had also succumbed to despair or did something else far worse happen to her? “Minako… What happened to you…?” He muttered but ended up pushing those thoughts aside when Toji and Matsu both placed a hand on Minato’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile; he nodded and closed the class list before copying the contents of the document in his notebook to go over later.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Four Missing students-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Location of Missing Students-  
  
Minato closed the document and double clicked on the suspected members of SHSL Despair document but the moment he opened it the computer crashed and kicked him back to the desktop, even Shoji tried forcing his way into the file but it turned out that the file was corrupted. They gave up on the file and Minato selected the ‘Data collected on SHSL Despair’ file too, he was bracing himself for the file to be corrupted too but surprisingly it wasn’t. Minato cleared his throat and read out the contents of the document to the others.  
  
“Super High School Level Despair is an organization made up of a group of people who are described as despair made human, they are utterly devoid of humanity. Those who identify as part of it don’t care about principles or morals. They just spread despair everywhere they go. They are made up of people who aim to force the world to bend to the knees of despair.”  
  
Some of the students were chattering among each other while Asuka told Minato to ignore them and keep reading the document; however the rest of the file contained jumbled up letters that made the text impossible to read.  Minato closed the document and rubbed his temples, while they didn’t get much information about Super High School Level Despair or its members, the contents of the file were shocking enough but everything else seemed disturbing. How could a group like this even exist like this in the first place but he shook that thought off for now and decided to log what they had found so far about Super High School Level Despair in the notebook.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Super High School Level Despair-  
  
Clearing his thoughts, the gamer hovered over the Class 77 and 78 rosters and a list like the Class 79 roster also popped up, however most of the Class 77 roster was also jumbled and hard to read like the previous files. So they moved on to the Class 78 roster and Minato saw a couple names that seemed familiar to him such as Yamada’s name being on the class list too, looking over his shoulder he saw that Celeste was looking at one name in particular and she pointed at it. Minato looked at the screen and saw that she was pointing at the name ‘Taeko Yasuhiro’, beside that name and her title it said that ‘Taeko goes by the name of Celestia Ludenberg too.’  
  
“So… Celestia Ludenberg’s real name was Taeko Yasuhiro… I no longer feel bad for impersonating her…” Celeste muttered while turning away from the group, they all looked at her and Shinji walked over to her and asked if she was going to be ok. Minato also was tempted to get up but she only turned towards the others and nodded, the gambler told the gamer to continue looking over the list and he turned his head away from her and began to looking down the list again.  
  
While reading the list he only sighed, there seemed to be nothing of importance so he copied the contents of the file into the notebook and closed the document. He needed to show this to Kenji when they would meet up with his group.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Class 79 Roster-  
  
Setting the notebook down for a moment, Minato moved the cursor over the ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’s Vault back up plan’ file and wondered what was in the contents of this file would hold. Would it be corrupted like the others or would it finally hold some crucial evidence that can aid them, bracing himself for the worse he opened the file and was surprised about the contents of the file. Everyone in Minato’s group looked closer at the file they had just found and the gamer decided to read it out to the others:  
  


“ _The Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up plan is a last ditch effort in case the Academy was ever breached by outside forces, namely members of Super High School Level Despair or in the time of crisis, the North American and European branches of Hope’s Peak Academy are also constructing their own versions of the vault. The Vault was created so that a group of people or students could hide while the intruders do whatever they want; the vault can hold at least 30+ people and could even sustain more if we pushed the resources to the limit however the committee board only want the vault to hold 30+ people like in the proposal. The vault is an underground facility that has four floors rooted in the ground and is fitted with dorms, four classrooms, a chemistry and computer lab and everything else that Hope’s Peak Academy has on its main floors in essence it’s a miniature version of Hope’s Peak Academy that was created in under half a year._ ” Minato stopped reading while the others began to chatter amongst themselves, Celeste told them to be quiet as Minato scrolled down the file again and read the rest of it out for the others.

  
“ _The Vault itself is impossible to break into or open from the outside, the doors can only be opened via a control panel inside the vault, inside the Headmaster’s Office and a panel inside the Headmaster’s Room. Even if someone were to break into the vault or even attempt to open it from the outside by hacking into or trying to destroy the doors, they would be exterminated by the vault’s defenses. The entrance to the vault is located behind the stage and is hidden among the curtains to your right; there you will find the vault and one of the many control panels that will only open the vault via a secret code._ ”  
  
Minato closed the file and looked at his classmates, most of them were trying to piece together what they had just heard and read along. Turning his head back towards the computer he saw that there was a clue to the password right under the paragraph.  
  
“ _The password is the name of the headmaster’s daughter._ ”  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Location of the Vault-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Vault Password Hint-  
  
Minato sighed and rubbed his temples once again, they were so close but once again so far from their goal. They didn’t even know the headmaster or even his daughter for that fact. While everyone was throwing around their theories or even guessing random names, Matsu leaned against the wall beside the computer and heard something click behind him, feeling that the wall wasn’t behind him anymore. He fell backwards with a loud crash that snapped everyone out of their discussion, Minato got up and entered the small room that Matsu had discovered and saw that there were two tables the one in the center had a purple box that seemed empty, a chair and a dresser.

Walking over to the table with the box, he noticed that there was an e-handbook lying on the bottom of the box, picking it up it booted up and the words ‘Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster’s handbook’ flashed on the screen, “The Headmaster’s e-Handbook? I suppose it’ll come in handy for something…” Minato muttered while pocketing it.  
  
-Item obtained: Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster’s e-handbook-  
  
He then turned his attention to the dresser and saw that there was something lying on its face. Picking the object up, it was a photo that showed a lilac haired girl being held up by a man. Minato guessed that the man was the girl’s father until something seemed to click inside of his head.  
  
“That man… That must be the headmaster…” He said to the group he showed them all the photo, Celeste grabbed it from him and turned it over once again. Sighing, the gambler began to undo the clips on the back of the photo and pulled the back off, Minato looked shocked that she would just take apart someone’s photo until she handed it back to him looking at the back of the photo; words were written on the back of it.  
  
“ _A beautiful summer day with my dear daughter, Kyoko._ ”  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Photo of the headmaster and his daughter-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Vault Password-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Password-  
  
Minato set the photo down and smiled, Celeste had discovered the password to the vault and whatever else was locked in the school. However Shoji called out to them back in the main room and they all found him sitting at the computer, when Minato pushed his way to the front of the group he saw that Shoji was trying to force his way into the final file on the computer. However he pushed Shoji out of the computer chair and sat down, he saw that a password was needed to access this file clearing his throat he decided to enter the name ‘Kyoko’ into the blank space.  
  
After he pressed enter a video popped up that showed the professor talking with the same man from the photo, he turned up the volume so that they all could hear their conversation better.  
  
“Professor Saeko, you realize that Class 78 already had agreed to stay confined within the halls of Hope’s Peak Academy don’t you?” The male voice said while the professor turned her head towards the man and sighed.  
  
“I know perfectly well what the student of Class 78 did… But it’s a big decision for them all, to agree to being trapped inside of this academy for the remainder of their days… Don’t you think that’s a bit cruel to keep them locked up like animals?”  
  
“Professor, I understand that you are worried for your students but the Hope’s Peak Shelter plan is their last ditch effort for survival. And you do realize that the vault is always available for those who need to hide in case anything goes sour correct?”  
  
The Professor looked away from the headmaster and rubbed her temples, she then turned her head slightly to gaze at the man who was sitting at the desk.

“The other classes… 76 and 77… have they also agreed to stay within the walls of Hope’s Peak?”

The man nodded and the professor once again sighed, she then made her way towards the door and opened it slightly. From there, Kenji walked into the headmaster’s room and sat down on one of the couches, the man grabbed a notebook and sat on the couch across from Kenji and asked him one simple question.  
  
“You might have to spend the rest of your life within the confines of this school… Are you ok with that?”  
  
“Yes… Yes I’m perfectly fine with that.”  
  
The man scribbled something on the notepad and Kenji got up and left, next came in Meiko and the same question was asked.  
  
“You might have to spend the rest of your life within the confines of this school… Are you ok with that?”  
  
“Yes, I am.”  
  
When she was done giving her answer, she also got up and left too, this continued with each and every one of the students. And every single one said ‘Yes’ to staying locked within the walls of the academy, even Minato also said that he was fine with staying in the academy too even his sister and the three of the four missing students also said yes, in the middle of the video he placed a hand over his mouth and tried his best to comprehend what they all were watching, even the others were struck silent at the contents of the video. However when it showed the final student, Minato’s expression dropped. The boy had long white hair and was wearing a military style trench coat, he didn’t even looked fazed at the question and only answered with a simple yes before the video crashed and they all were sent to the desktop.  
  
The gamer got up from the chair and placed a hand on his chin, who was that mysterious boy who also agreed to be trapped within the walls of Hope’s Peak Academy along with the rest of them? But Minato had a hunch that student was indeed Jin Arisato and that he also agreed to be sealed within Hope’s Peak Academy too. Looking up at the others, they were also looking confused by the contents of the video and why they had all agreed to such a thing even though they have never met the headmaster before coming to Hope’s Peak. Minato pulled out the notebook and decided to add the video to the list of evidence and whatever else they had just found too.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mysterious video-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mysterious White-haired boy-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Jin Arisato-  
  
Putting the notebook in his pocket, the group decided to make their way downstairs until Minato told them that he would meet up with them in a bit. They all left him on the second floor and made their way down to the dining hall to wait for him, “I think it’s time I do a little investigating of my own for a bit.” Minato said to himself as he looked at the door to the locker room and pushed his way into it, looking around the lockers he noticed the same three that he and Matsu were trying to get into. Placing his e-handbook over one of them resulted in the same buzzing noise from before, growling he ended up kicking the locker but ended up hurting his toe in the process. He started hopping on one foot while swearing under his breath until he got another idea.  
  
Pulling out the headmaster’s handbook he pressed it against the scanner and it unlocked, he was surprised and opened the locker.

Inside there was a crystal ball, some tarot cards that he avoided touching and a pile of books and notebooks, picking up one of the book he saw the name ‘Yasuhiro Hagakure’ written on the front of it and he opened it to check on the contents. It was just a bunch of things he didn’t understand or didn’t even want to understand, chucking the book back into the locker he moved over to the one that Shinji was kicking and also managed to open that one with the headmaster’s e-handbook too. Minato found a small pile of anime figurines that seemed like they would belong to Matsu, picking one of them up he saw the name ‘Matsumoto Kishinuma’ scribbled on the base of the figure.  
  
Confused he set it back in the locker and pulled out a notebook that had Matsu’s name written on the front like Hagakure’s notebook; opening it he saw that there were notes about several classes worth of material summarized carefully inside almost like the other book that he found earlier, Minato put Matsu’s notebook back in the locker and pulled out his own notebook from his pocket and jotted down the evidence he found in the locker room so far.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook-  
  
Closing both the lockers he turned to the other one that Shinji was kicking furiously before he gave up and stormed out of the room, pressing the headmaster’s e-handbook over the scanner it popped open. Minato took a look inside the locker and saw that there was nothing of importance or rather it was empty for the most part, he was about to close it until he saw a small notebook lying on one of the shelves of the locker.

Picking it up he began flipping through the pages and saw that most of them were blank until one of them had writing on them the hand writing didn’t seem familiar to Minato or it didn’t match any of the other’s own handwriting either, as he started to read over the notes he covered his mouth with one hand and gasped at the contents of this notebook.  
  
“ _The plan is to lock down Hope’s Peak Academy and have the students live a communal lifestyle…_  
  
I decided to go and talk directly to the man who made that plan.  
  
My father, Hope’s Peak Academy’s headmaster…  
  
This is what he said to me:  
  
“The goal of this plan is to protect our nation’s genius and bring hope to the future.”  
  
“The only people who can conquer a calamity are those with extreme talent. Only hope can defeat despair.”  
  
“I will not be remiss in calling this plan our nation’s last hope…!”  
  
“I must pull you away from a world that has already corrupted its excellent youth, and make you the cornerstone for a better future.”  
  
“This is our one and only hope… And I wish to have your cooperation.”  
  
…Those were my father’s words.  
  
As usual, he just decides things on his own…  
  
A truly despicable father…”  
  
Minato continued to read over the contents of the notebook over and over again, he shook his head every time while reading. “This has to be Kyoko’s own notebook… The chick seemed to really hate her dad huh, even though he basically protected her from whatever is on the outside world… Wait a moment…” He said to himself as he read over the passage over and over again, no mention was made of the Vault or anything that had to do with the vault under the academy it seemed that the Kyoko’s father didn’t tell her or maybe she would’ve thought that he was lying about the vault, after flipping through the pages he came to the last few pages that had another passage that was written in shaky letters, completely disjointed from the tidy handwriting on the rest of the page.

  
“ _Despair is among us…  
  
That’s why we are still alive…  
  
There are two Despairs…_”  
  
The gamer sat down on the bench behind him and continued to flip though the notebook, hoping that there was more evidence that they could go by. But his luck seemed to be in his favour as he flipped to one of the last pages in the book:  
  
“ _The Vault must never be opened…_  
  
No matter what, even if those who entered it will come out alive…  
  
It seems that he was not lying about this one at all either…  
  
The Vault is real, and we couldn’t enter it like Class 79…”  
  
He dropped the notebook and held his head; another memory started playing in his head. They all were sitting in a classroom; it looked like the classroom on the first floor. A crash was heard from deeper inside the academy along with screams, he heard Toji yelling something that was clear as day.  
  
“The Headmaster was executed! We need to get the hell out of here… if not… We’ll die like Class 76 and 77!” The graffiti artist screamed at the students who were all sitting at their desks, “This was a bad idea… We should’ve all agreed to leave the academy instead of being trapped in this hellhole!” He once again shouted but he was punched in the stomach by Shinji who told him to shut up, they all heard the sound of running feet coming towards them. Matsu ran over and opened the door where the Professor followed by Yukari, Kaori and Kenji just arrived holding various files that the professor made them grab.  
  
She looked at them and caught her breath before pointing at the door, “Everyone… Grab your asses and run! Class 78 is already is already gathering their things and is making their way to the vault, now move it folks!” The Professor shouted as everyone nodded and ran for the gym, by the time they made it to the gym they all heard a maniacal laughter play over the intercom. The Professor pushed back the stage curtains and opened the hatch to a long hallway that seemed to lead into the depths of the earth itself, everyone filed into the hallway and ran towards the large opening at the end of the tunnel. When the class entered the vault, Kaori, Yukari, Shinji, Asuka and Minato himself were standing guard to make sure that Class 78 would enter the vault safely as well.  
  
After about 20 minutes of waiting, they finally saw a group of people running towards the vault. He saw one of the students and called out to him “Yo! Hifumi! Hurry up or else you are gonna be left behind!” The same student yelled something back but as the group was nearing the middle of the hallway the vault doors began to close, the five of them began shouting at Shoji who was in charge of the vault doors but he said he wasn’t doing anything. He then looked at the control panel and saw that the door was supposed to close within five seconds, the five then turned towards the group and told them all to hurry up but as they all were nearing the vault doors it finally shut.

The last thing that he saw was the scared face of one of his best friends, the gamer ran up to the door and began punding his fist on it. “…You guys… No!” He screamed as he heard Hifumi shout ‘Shirogane-dono!’ followed by the sounds of people pounding on the vault door, Kaori ran over to Shoji and told him to open the door or else she would pummel him into oblivion but to her dismay he couldn’t at this point even if he could since he didn’t know the password. Minato fell to his knees and also continued to pound on the door too, he had failed to help his friend and even the other remaining class too, the last thing he saw was tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes and he felt Celeste’s and Katsuya’s hand touch his shoulders.  
  
After that memory, he had snapped out of his revere and stood up. But the moment he did, he almost toppled over and felt dizzy, that memory took a lot out of him and he felt sick. He felt like he needed to barf or just fall over and crawl into a ball and sob for the rest of the investigation, the sounds of the shouts and pounding on the vault door by Class 78 continued to resound in his ears. Just the thought of it make him sick, picking up Kyoko’s notebook he decided to add it to the evidence list for future reference if needed.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Kyoko Kirigiri’s notebook-  
-Truth Bullet Updated: Location of the Vault-  
  
Making a dash out of the lockers, he had to reach Kenji and show them all the location of the vault and the name plates on the doors. But the only thing on his mind was getting the two groups back together, when he reached the dining hall, the members of his group all greeted him and Minato took a moment to catch his breath. “We… We need to reunite with Kenji’s group ASAP!”  
  
The group all looked at him with confused gazes while Celeste stood up and she walked over to him, “How come…? Is it something important?” She asked and he nodded.  
  
“…I remember the location of the vault now… We need Kenji and his group to come with us.”  
  
Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 2 Minato’s side… End.


	19. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 2 Side B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will Kenji’s group find this time and what is the big reveal that they have yet to discover!? Find out in this newest installment of Chapter 6!

-Previously on Danganronpa: Infinite Despair-  
  
“Upupupu~ well it seems that it’s time for the curtain to fall on this chapter, it seems that there were others who had set foot in this academy… Sixteen students roamed the halls of this academy before you came here, why and how didn’t you all get caught before…? Let’s see if you can solve this mystery for once… Upupupu~” The bear said as Kenji looked down at the bag carrying all the files that was given to him by Kyoko, all the files about them and whatever else they could use for evidence to help them in this trial.  
  
As Monokuma disappeared from the screen, Kenji glared up at it and gritted his teeth.  
  
‘There’s no way in hell that I’m gonna lose here… I’ll make sure that we all get out of here alive.’  
  
Chapter 6, Part 2: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy, Kenji’s Side.  
  
“Upupupu~ your final class trial is coming soon; in order to make this a fair investigation I will unlock every single door in the academy… Have fun and try your best to solve the mystery!”  
  
The remaining twelve were all silent, their final class trial was fast approaching and they need to investigate. But with such a large number it would be hard to investigate the entire school individually; Kenji stood over a list of names and tried putting people into groups before Minato grabbed the list and started to place the remaining students in equal groups.  
  
“Alright, I’ll be taking Celeste, Matsu, Shinji, Shoji and Asuka with me, Kenji… You’ll be taking Meiko, Mitsuru, Yukari, Akira and Toji.” The Gamer called out as the students all got into a group behind their respective leader, Kenji looked at Meiko and gave her a small reassuring smile and she nodded. Minato cleared his throat and held up his e-handbook and pointed at the map, “I have pinpointed some places that are great for investigating, Kenji you guys will head up to the fourth floor and investigate the data center, the headmaster’s office, the staff office and the fifth floor. My group will be exploring the second floor dorms and we will meet up with you on the fourth floor to continue investigating…” Putting his e-handbook in his pocket, he grinned and held his hand out towards Kenji.  
  
“Let’s put an end to this damn twisted game.” He added while Kenji nodded and also grabbed Minato’s hand and shook it.  
  
The two groups split up the moment they heard the investigation siren play though the intercoms, Kenji and his group started for the fourth floor. He turned around and gave Minato a thumbs up as they all made a mad dash for the remaining floors, the group climbed up to the second floor where a flashback of them all finding Shinichi’s body floating in the pool flashed though his mind, when they reached the third floor the memory of finding Kaori’s body seemed to resonate though his mind and the sounds of Minato’s cries resonated though his ears. As the group made their way up to the final floor, the memory of finding Takeshi the traitor’s body in the music room emerged from the back of his mind and stuck there, all six of them stood in the middle of the hall while Kenji pulled out his notebook and went over the locations of where they should investigate.

“Alright… This is a pretty big floor, but since Minato and the others were planning on joining us soon I think we should split up into two groups. One for the fifth floor and another for the fourth floor…” Kenji flipped over a page and wrote down the locations of interest that were on the next floor and held it out in front of him. “When we are done exploring here, we will join you all on the fifth floor… Got it?” The lucky student added and they all nodded, he turned his gaze over at Toji, Yukari and Akira and told them to go to the fifth floor to look around for any evidence that could be useful.  
  
“Ok chief… We’ll shout if we find anything or if something happens to us.” Akira replied as Kenji smiled and nodded at her, some members of the group cracked their knuckles while Mitsuru began tapping her foot on the ground and placed a hand over her chin in thought.  
  
“Let’s do this you guys… This is our last shot of getting out of this twisted academy, let’s not fuck it up!” Kenji shouted, while everyone also shouted in agreement too.  
  
-Investigation Start-  
  
As Akira’s group left for the fifth floor, Kenji turned his attention to Meiko and Mitsuru. However as he was about to open his mouth, the heiress simply walked away from them. “Oi, where the hell are you going?” Kenji shouted but she only looked at him and entered the data center, both him and Meiko brushed her off and began to perform their own investigation. The two of them made their way to the headmaster’s office to see if they could salvage any evidence that could be lying around, when they both entered the office the two split and began to look around.  
  
Walking over to the desk, he began opening the drawers and emptying their contents hoping in hell that they could find something useful. As he dumped one of the drawers on the desk, he saw that a small golden key landed on the table. Picking it up he saw a small paper label that read ‘Student Record Cabinet’. Looking up from the key, he saw that Meiko was trying to open a cabinet that was situated to the right of him, pushing past her. Kenji placed the small key inside the keyhole and it popped open, looking at the labels he looked over binders that were labeled ‘Class 76’, ‘Class 77’, ‘Class 78, and finally ‘Class 79’.  
  
Pulling the ‘Class 79’ file out of the shelf, he carried over to the headmaster’s desk and placed it down. Meiko walked over to him and also looked at the files too; he started to flip through all of their files ending at the file that was titled ‘Jin Arisato’.  
  
“Jin Arisato… He’s the nineteenth student right…? Wait… His title is the Super High School Level Ground Self-Defense Force Member, so he’s part of the military huh? Why would someone like him be considered part of Super High School Level Despair…?” Meiko muttered while Kenji shook his head and continued to look at his file, nothing else was of interest until he flipped to a photo of a full body shot of Jin.  
  
Kenji looked at the photo of the boy and saw that he didn’t even look like the corpse that they had all found a day ago, closing the file. Kenji stood up from the chair and the two of them decided it was time to investigate somewhere else, but that photo of Jin kept floating back into his memory so he pulled out his notebook and jotted down the photo and Jin’s file.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Class 79 Files-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Jin Arisato’s Profile-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Jin Arisato’s Student Records-  
  
The two of them made their way to the data center where they both saw Mitsuru looking at the Monokuma Door that was in the far back of the room, upon hearing the two of them enter the room she only glared at them and continued looking through the file that lay out in front of her. Meiko strode over to where Mitsuru was sitting and also began looking at the file too; Kenji also made his way over to where his two classmates were sitting and gazed down at the file. He saw that the file was about the ‘Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan’, all three of them began reading the document.  
  
“The Vault is located in the gym, the entrance is found behind the curtains to the right on the stage.” Mitsuru read out and Kenji placed his hand on his chin in thought.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan-  
  
‘This Vault… Kyoko mentioned it before; it was the Future Foundation’s theory about how we managed to survive the first Mutual Killing Game, so it’s real huh… We should find it quickly…’ However his train of thought was broken when a loud crash was heard from behind the Monokuma door, Kenji stood up and grabbed a wrench that was lying on the table adjacent from them and sneaked up towards the door quietly. Meiko also stood up but he motioned for her to stay still in her spot, Kenji grabbed the handle and twisted it slowly and noticed that it was finally unlocked.  
  
Opening it quickly with the wrench raised above his head, ready to strike whoever was inside this small room. However the room was empty, Kenji called out to the other two that the room was safe to enter and Meiko ran into the small room along with Kenji while Mitsuru stood up and looked at the monitors that were displaying each of the rooms in the academy, both Kenji and Meiko were looking around the small room. The two of them looked at a machine that seemed to be connected to something that seemed too familiar.  
  
“Wow… This looks like something out of a mecha or science fiction anime, man if Matsu and Minato were here they both would be ecstatic about this!” Meiko giggled at the thought of the two largest dorks going wild over the contents of this room, Kenji chuckled at the thought too but that thought disappeared when he looked at the console. There were various buttons littered around the console and the control panel, the lucky student crossed his arms and thought for a moment.

‘A door with Monokuma painted on it… A control panel that looks like a cockpit…No fucking way, this is!?’ However once again his train of thought disappeared when Meiko started pressing buttons on the panel, Kenji tried to stop her but a sound was heard from the room behind them. Leaving Meiko with the control panel, Kenji entered the data room and saw that Mitsuru was investigating the Monokuma unit that appeared in front of her, she looked at him and asked what did they do and Kenji explained what Meiko did and the heiress closed her eyes in thought.  
  
When Kenji walked up to the Monokuma unit, it jumped out at him and shouted “Rawr! Look at me; I’m a boring as hell bear!” Kenji looked at the bear and poked it on the forehead, he decided to push it over as well which resulted in Monokuma shouting, “Hey, hey! That is not cool, Kenji!”  
  
Mitsuru stood over the Monokuma unit with Kenji and both seemed puzzled, “Meiko… What are you doing?” Mitsuru asked while the unit sat up and shook its head, it stood up and ended up falling over again with Meiko shouting ‘Goddamn it!’ while trying to make the Monokuma stand up again but he kept falling over, Mitsuru turned away from the despicable scene and nodded.  
  
“So it seems my hypothesis was correct…” She muttered while Kenji turned his head towards Mitsuru and tilted his head slightly, the heiress looked at him and before he could open his mouth she interrupted him. “I had a theory, that the mastermind can’t operate both Monokuma and monitor the cameras at the same time… And it seems that it was proven a many times at this point…”  
  
“Huh? What do you mean?” He asked while the thunk of Monokuma running into a table interrupted them, “Wait a moment… Does that mean that, Minato found this out already?”  
  
Mitsuru uncrossed her arms and glared at Kenji from the corner of her eyes, he gulped and started to explain what happened after the events of the fourth class trial and how Minato told him to meet him at the data center while he was doing something else. Mitsuru nodded and smiled at the floor while she was hearing this, “I’m impressed actually… I didn’t think that Minato had it in him to figure something out so early… Using you as a guinea pig to prove his own theory… He is and intrusting character indeed…” She muttered while Monokuma finally flopped over and Meiko gave an annoyed sigh, Mitsuru kept musing over Minato’s impressive find while Kenji entered the control room, he saw that Meiko was sitting down and she kept trying to make it stand up.  
She finally gave up when Kenji placed a hand on her shoulder, “So how did it feel to control the bear?” Kenji asked while Meiko got up and stood away from the controls, she shuddered and wiped her hands on her skirt. Kenji walked over to her; she turned to look at him while shaking her head.  
  
“It felt… Disgusting… to know that the person who trapped us in here… Is also controlling Monokuma in this very room…” She replied as she ran into Kenji’s chest and buried her face in it, Kenji patted her chestnut coloured hair and she only shook her head, “I… I want to leave, I want out of this hellhole…” She muttered while Kenji reassured her that they would all get out safely and she smiled at him, the two of them left the Monokuma control room while Kenji pulled out his notebook and decided to jot down what they had discovered.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma Control Center-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mitsuru’s Hypothesis-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s Hypothesis-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mastermind’s method of watching the cameras and controlling Monokuma-  
  
When they both exited the room, Mitsuru only continued to look at the monitors when she noticed that the group on the fifth floor seemed to be in the dojo looking around for something. She saw the two students and looked at them both, “I recommend going to the fifth floor, it seems that the others are having trouble with something… That or they are being complete idiots up there…” She muttered while Kenji nodded and walked past her, Meiko soon followed Kenji and she looked behind at Mitsuru like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.  
  
As soon as Meiko and Kenji left, Mitsuru picked up another file and started to read the contents of the file. She then threw it on the ground and spit in the opposite direction, “No… It cannot be… I’m one of… one of them…?” She muttered as she walked into the Monokuma Control Center and looked at all the buttons, “Jin… Arisato… He really is a member of Super High School Level Despair… Does this mean that my dreams, they all have been real the entire time…? That means that Junko…” She stopped midsentence as she turned around and pushed her red hair out of her eyes and looked back down at the file that she discarded on the floor.  
  
“It wasn’t a dream at all… I really am… one of them…”  
  
Meanwhile, both Kenji and Meiko made their way up to the fifth floor to meet up with the others to see if they found any evidence. The moment they reached the upper floor, Yukari came running towards them shouting: “The body… The body is fuckin’ gone!” And both Meiko and Kenji ran to the dojo where the body had been laying a day ago, when they reached the dojo the body was indeed gone and the five students were all confused. Kenji placed a hand on his chin and thought for a moment, if the body did indeed disappear then where would it end up?  
  
Kenji pushed this thought to the back of his mind for now and decided to investigate the fifth floor since it seemed like the others didn’t really do anything, leaving the dojo the memory of them finding photos in one of the classrooms on this floor came back to him. Walking over to the classroom that was near the hallway to the cursed classroom, Kenji entered it and saw that the photos were still on the desk where they left it picking one up he saw all the dead students and even the surviving students were all sitting in what looked like a classroom, outside the academy on a track, sitting on some picnic tables and even a photo of Kaori Suou and Mondo Oowada was in this batch of photos.

Kenji was still flipping through them when he found a photo of him and Makoto and they were holding up a sign that was labeled ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’s best luck!’ and he smiled at it, he even found a photo of Minato with that Hifumi Yamada kid, they were both smiling at the camera and were holding up a sign titled ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’s Biggest Dorks’ with each others arms around their shoulders and another one where they were all sitting around playing video games and reading manga along with Matsu, Toji, Shinji and Shoji, he once again smiled. Kenji came across a photo of Celeste kissing Minato on the cheek with Kaori and the others all pointing at them and laughing like they were surprised that she kissed him, but something came up that showed himself and Meiko. They both were taking a photo together while Kenji was hugging her, he had to fight back the urge to let tears stream out of his eyes as he continued to look though all the photos.  
  
All of the photos showed the same thing, all of them having fun, hanging out or doing stupid or otherwise silly things. The final photo in the batch showed a group photo of them all standing in a classroom behind some desks, Kenji looked at the sign that was in front of him and Meiko and it was labeled ‘Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79’. Looking at the photos he once again saw Jin smiling at the camera but it didn’t seem like a smile one would have if they were posing for a picture, no this smile was one of pure malice, Kenji put the photos in his pocket and pulled out his notebook. He jotted down what he had found in this classroom and maybe it would help them with what they had coming up too, but he paused for a moment and thought of Jin’s smile, it just didn’t seem natural to him like he knew what was going to happen to them all.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mysterious Photos-  
-Truth Bulled obtained: Group Photograph-  
  
Kenji left the classroom and decided to go near the cursed classroom, upon readying to open the door. He heard a crash coming from his left, turning his head to the left he saw that the sound came from the Biology labs. Making his way down towards the labs, an unnatural cold fell on him and he shivered grabbing the door handle, he opened it and walked into a dimly lit room. Looking down at the floor he saw that there were smears of old dried up blood were leading to almost all of the doors on the right.  
  
Walking over to the doors, he saw that a blue light was flashing. Kenji cracked his knuckles and pulled on the door, after giving it a few good tugs he was greeted to a table that rolled out of the hole and something was wrapped up inside of a cloth. He gulped when he realized what the object was, up wrapping the head he was greeted with the face of one of the dead students; more precisely it was Kaori’s body that he had the misfortune of finding again. It was strange seeing her like this, it was only moments ago that he saw her smiling but that was only in some photos, after wrapping the head up carefully he pushed the table back into the compartment and sighed, “This room… it became a morgue… And everyone’s bodies, they are in here…”

  
Kenji quickly strode away from the wall and looked at all the lights, he counted them all and there were only nine lit up. “Wait a moment… there were eight people killed then why… Why is there only seven lit up…?” Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment about the order of the killings and the executions, ‘First was Hikari, Eikichi was second, Shinichi was third, Kaori was fourth, Katsuya was fifth, Takeshi was sixth, the Professor was seventh and Jin was the eighth… Then why has his body suddenly gone missing…?’  
“Unless, the body that we found wasn’t Jin at all and the mastermind must have disposed of that body that we found yesterday…” Kenji was confused, but all this confusion wasn’t going to get him nowhere, pulling out his notebook he decided to jot down what he had found in the biology lab.  
  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Biology Lab lights-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Secret of the biology lab-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Jin Arisato’s missing body-  
  
Kenji quickly left the morgue when he heard his name being called from the fourth floor, he sprinted down the hallway past the cursed classroom and finally to the front of the data center. Kenji spotted Minato’s group and they all were happy to see him, “Minato did you find anything…” But he was cut off by the gamer who told them all to follow him back to the dorms, before he could protest the group of students made their way towards the dorms. When they all finally reached the dorms, Asuka passed Minato a crowbar that was lying on the floor and he walked over to where his room was located, Kenji gave his friend a confused look as he pried off his own nameplate.  
  
The sound of metal collapsing on the floor was the only sound that was made throughout the entire dormitory, Kenji looked on the floor and saw Minato’s nameplate facing upwards, and he then turned his gaze towards the door and saw that another nameplate was on the door instead. “Hifumi… Yamada…?” Kenji muttered and Minato moved to Kaori’s room and pried the nameplate off her door too and the name ‘Yasuhiro Hagakure’ was on the door too, this continued for all of the student’s doors on Celeste’s door was the name ‘Leon Kuwata’, on Toji’s door was the name ‘Sakura Oogami’, on Katsuya’s door was the name ‘Aoi Asahina’, on Shoji’s it was ‘Chihiro Fujisaki’, while on Takeshi’s door the name ‘Toko Fukawa’ was also found, on Kenji’s own door was the name ‘Makoto Naegi’ and this pattern continued for every single one of the doors.

  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mystery of the nameplates-  
  
Putting away the notebook, Kenji turned towards Minato and gave him a confused gaze. “How did you… How did you know about this?” But Minato shook his head and Shoji ran out of the baths and nodded at the group.  
“…Well Alter Ego had injected the code into the school and it’s currently going through the main systems, anyways didn’t you say that you had a big reveal for all of us?” Shoji asked Minato and he nodded, Kenji’s group all gave Minato’s group a confused look while Minato cleared his throat and looked at his fellow students as Mitsuru walked into the dorms too.  
  
“I have found out the location and password for the vault…” He shouted at the group while Kenji’s group all began to chatter amongst each other, and Mitsuru also confirmed that Minato was telling the truth about the location of the vault and Toji shouted at him about the location of the vault, and the gamer nodded, “I’m pretty sure that Kenji also knows where the location is too right?”  
  
“You mean behind the stage right…?” He replied and Minato nodded too, the group all fell silent again with the revelation that they had all been occupying the rooms of Class 78 and the fact that they were so close at finding the vault that kept them all safe while Class 78 was butchering themselves made them all anxious about finding the thing, but Kenji stood beside Minato and smiled at the group, “Hey you guys, listen… we came a long way so I think it’s about damn time to find some answers you know! And I’m sure the vault is going to give us those answers!” And with that, the entire group all nodded and someone shouted from the crowd ‘Alright lead the way chief!’  
  
After making some preparations such as grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon in case members of Super High School Level Despair attacked them while en route to the vault, Minato was carrying his crowbar while Kenji grabbed a wrench from the laundry room. The others mostly were unarmed but the twins were right behind the two of them along with Asuka and Akira, the group of 12 made their way to the gym where Matsu and Shoji pushed aside the curtains on the right side of the gym to reveal a door that was pushed to the far right corner of the stage, both Shinji and Yukari pushed their way though and kicked the door open.  
  
After making sure that no one was inside the dusty hallway, all twelve of them made their way through the long tunnel that was illuminated with the colours from the first floor, Minato ended up muttering, “This… it brings me back to when we got locked in here…” but Kenji ignored him for now. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel they all were greeted by a large steel door that read ‘Future’, the door itself looked like the door that was in the entrance hall of the academy. The twins along with Asuka and Akira began attacking the door with all their might, hoping that the vault would open up but to no avail, Kenji looked to the left of the four of them and saw that a panel was located right beside the vault door.  
  
He signalled to Minato who also walked over to where the control panel was and a screen that popped up said:  
  
‘Please enter the password…’

Kenji was confused, he didn’t even know what the password was or the fact that they haven’t even gotten a clue to what the password was, but Minato instead pushed his way past Kenji and pulled up the keyboard. The lucky student watched as he typed in the words:  
  
‘KYOKO’  
  
And with that, an alarm started to ring and the vault door shuddered, all of them stood back from the door as the center of it twisted to the left and the door split open. Kenji watched as light started streaming through the cracks of the door, everyone else looked at the light in amazement as the doors finally opened and they all were greeted by the entrance hall of the academy beyond the door, the group was confused but when they all entered it they noticed that it was considerably smaller than the entrance hall that they were all too familiar with.  
  
Looking around the entrance hall of the vault, Kenji saw that bags and other things were lying around the room he looked around and saw a makeshift bed that was right beside a laptop that was running statistics about the vault’s carrying capacity and the daily intake of food that has to be evenly distributed between the academy and the vault, Shoji walked over to the laptop and picked it up. His deadpan look turned into a smile as he started to laugh at the laptop.  
  
“I…I thought I lost this laptop… I built it from scratch and it’s still working… Why… I don’t understand…” The hacker muttered as he began typing into the laptop as a screen popped up that showed the day that they entered the vault and the exit date too, “Wait a moment… We entered the vault about a year and a half ago… and it says that we exited the vault… About 20 days ago… What the fuck is going on here?”  
  
Minato chuckled at Shoji and walked past them all, “It seems Katsuya’s theory about us getting amnesia was correct… Anyways we don’t have time to dwell on that anymore, we better explore the vault and see what evidence we can get from here in the short amount of time we have.” Everyone also agreed and followed Minato as he entered the main atrium of the vault that looked like a scaled down version of the first floor.  
  
The Lucky Student looked back at the entrance of the vault and wondered if they will indeed find anything down here, “I guess it’s time to see what this cage has to offer huh…” Kenji muttered to himself as he followed the rest of his classmates deep within the vault, he was hoping in hell that they could find something of use or even anything that could be used for the upcoming class trial, but knowing that his luck seemed to be working in his favour for once. He had a good feeling that they will find something soon.  
  
Chapter 6 Part 2, side A: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy, Kenji’s Side…


	20. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the group has found the location of the Vault, what will our underdogs find in this location and wil lthey able to find out the mystery of the vault?

-Location: Hope’s Peak Academy Safety Vault-

“So this is the vault huh, nothin’ too special about it really…” Yukari muttered looking over a pile of books that seemed to be placed beside another makeshift bed and knocking it over. The others all began taking things apart to see if they could come across anything that was important for the final class trial, Kenji was looking through some files that in found in one of the miniature open classrooms that was on the first level.

Opening them, he came across a blueprint of the vault, a list of all the available textbooks and learning materials that have been stocked in the vault’s library and another list with supplies that would’ve been stocked while people were inside, the lucky student decided to check through the blueprints to see what lied ahead for them. Kenji pushed some objects off a desk that was lying in the middle of the hallway and placed the blueprints down; Minato noticed him and looked over his shoulder at the maps.

“Asuka, Mitsuru and Akira just came back from the lower levels of the vault and told me that the last one was sealed off, so it seems that we can only explore this one and the second one which houses the dorms…” Minato muttered into Kenji’s ear, he nodded and pulled up the plans for the final level and the gamer pointed at a door that was located to the bottom right beside a classroom, “Wait a moment, that door… The writing says it leads to the garbage chute, does that mean that door on that platform… where I found you, lead to the vault?” He asked and Kenji nodded.

“Yeah, that door does lead to that platform… So that means that we were close to discovering the vault even before we knew it.” Kenji replied as the gamer sighed and shook his head, Kenji discarded the third level’s plans and pulled open the second level’s blueprints. The entire floor was dedicated to housing for the inhabitants, “We should explore the second floor for sure, and I know that we will find something there.” He added while Minato nodded and walked away from him, Kenji turned his head and asked where he was going and all that Minato did was chuckle and turn around, smiling.

“I wanna check something out for myself; I’ll see you in a bit man.” And with that, the gamer disappeared into one of the classrooms. Kenji looked back down at the blueprints and sighed, grabbing the notebook from his pocket; he jotted down short notes about the blueprints.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Vault Blueprints-

Putting the notebook away, he decided to check out the two classrooms. However his search of one of them was halted when the same classroom that Minato had entered was locked, Kenji knocked on the door and asked Minato if he was alright but no one answered from the other side, the lucky student continued to knock on the door but every time he did no one ever answered. Kenji sighed and decided to let Minato do his own thing for now so he went over to the other classroom that was beside the one he tried to get into.

Upon entering the classroom, Kenji noticed that a couple of the desks had been turned over and some blankets and two inflatable mattresses were huddled below the television screen that was mounted to the wall. Deciding to investigate the mess of blankets and sheets, the lucky student pulled out a diary, flipping to the first page he saw that this diary belonged to Hikari. The same Hikari that was killed only weeks earlier, the same person that they knew for such a small time, Kenji sighed and decided to read the last few pages of her diary.

“T-This is… The details on, someone else’s murders…”

‘ _Day 5 continued… So Leon was executed, it was so brutal… So brutal that we had to look away while we were watching in the dining hall, Minato puked like usual when we saw the guy’s body. Why is the mastermind showing us these images? What do they hope to accomplish by showing our fellow students and friends killing each other_?’

‘ _Day 10 in the vault, Poor Chihiro… He got his head smashed in by that brute Mondo; Shoji was devastated by what happened and had to shut himself in his room for the duration of the trial and didn’t come out till the end of it. But Katsuya came up with a hypothesis that the mastermind couldn’t control Monokuma and watch the cameras at the same time so during the trial we sent out a small squad to explore the academy, that squad had Minato, Minako, Nobu, Celeste and Katsuya himself explore the two floors of that academy… They couldn’t find a way out sadly…_ ’

‘ _I have lost track for how long we have been in the vault, it’s painful to think that we could be trapped in here all our lives… but there was some sad news too… Minato, Shoji, Toji, and Matsu watched in horror as one of their friends killed another student and in turn they were killed too. Minato took Hifumi’s death hard, I never seen him so disappointed and even Celeste and Kaori tried to talk to him but he didn’t even talk to them at all…_ ’

‘ _We watched her burn and get run over by a fire truck, Celestia Ludenberg… the woman who was responsible for the deaths of two of our classmates was killed… Of course some of the guys here joked around that now that the ‘real’ Celeste was killed, our Celeste could finally be the legit Celestia Ludenberg. However she didn’t take that joke lightly and remained in her room for the entire night after that, I hope both her and Minato are doing alright…_ ’

Kenji wanted to stop reading her diary at this point; it was all the same thing that went on for a couple more pages, detailing what happened during each murder, trial and execution of Class 78. But for evidence purposes he decided to keep reading on until he finally reached the events of the fifth class trial.

‘ _Makoto was declared the prime suspect for the case and was even betrayed by his friends, what was strange was that we all heard voices coming from behind the door on the third level of the vault… It sounded like Makoto and Kyoko, Kenji wanted to run out and greet them but the Professor and Jin prevented Kenji from opening the door to the garbage chute… They told him that if he made contact with those two it would surely attract the mastermind’s attention to us; then again with Monokuma always banging and slashing the vault door every evening… I’m sure that we were found out a long time ago…_ ’

After that passage, the remaining pages were torn out of the book and he began to search through the blankets and even the desks but it was no luck. The pages were missing and someone had sabotaged their effort to gain more information, Kenji looked down at the little black book and sighed. It was strange to find Hikari’s own diary and to see her handwriting again but at least it held some information that he could use.

Pulling out his notebook, the lucky student quickly made a note about the notebook and its contents.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Hikari Shinohara’s Diary-

Putting the notebook away, Kenji turned around and decided to visit the other rooms in the vault, when walking past the classroom that Minato had barricaded himself into. All that Kenji heard was things being thrown or what sounded like a desk being overturned, he thought for a moment that Minato was heavily investigating the room like he had done before in one of the classrooms in the main academy, he swore for a moment he heard sobbing from behind the door. Kenji was about to knock on it but he decided to leave Minato to himself for the time being, turning away from the door the lucky student made his way towards the second level dorms to find any other evidence they could use.

-Hope’s Peak Academy Vault: Second Level-

When the lucky student descended the stairs to the second level of the vault, he was greeted by Matsu and Toji as they were trying to access the third level but the door wouldn’t budge. The two of them started to bang on the door as Yukari came over to them and she started to punch it furiously but to no avail, Kenji left the four of them to try and break down the metal door as he entered the dormitories of the vault.

The dorms in the Vault were almost identical to the ones in the main academy with a few differences, for starters the Bath entrance was replaced by a simple oak door that read ‘Baths’ on it, the dining hall’s doors were a tad bit smaller than the doors in the main academy, another difference was the dorm hallway, the red lights were replaced with a light blue colour which gave a calming vibe to the small area. Kenji decided to check out the dining hall where he thought he could find something, when entering the room, he noticed that the long table had medical supplies on it which made him think of Takeshi.

While approaching the desk, Kenji saw that there were a couple files on the table, picking each of them up he saw that the files were labeled: ‘Minato Shirogane’, ‘Kaori Suo’, ‘Yukari Morishige’ and finally ‘Jin Arisato’, curiously, the lucky student set down the other three files and opened up Jin’s file. The handwriting looked similar to Takeshi’s, grabbing a chair from one of the many over turned tables and makeshift beds that were lying around the dining hall, Kenji started to read over Takeshi’s observation of Jin.

‘ _It’s been a couple weeks since we have been trapped in here, and while most people have adjusted to life in the vault and the prospect of staying here the rest of our lives, the other half seems to be having a hard time adjusting. But only three of us have no reaction at all to staying in the vault, which would have to be Jin, his sister Naomi and Mitsuru. Those three seem to be staring intensely at the screens or barricading themselves in the room with a radio, we don’t know what they are planning but most of us think that they might be members of Super High School Level Despair_.’

‘ _Professor Saeko told me to keep an eye out for them since the Despairs seem to harm themselves or others in the name of despair, Jin and Naomi don’t seem to bare these marks, Mitsuru herself doesn’t have the marks so maybe she isn’t affiliated with such an organization that said I think we should keep an eye out for these guys since we could be easily fooled by them_.’

Kenji was puzzled by the contents of the observation, it seemed that they had all been suspicious that Super High School Level Despair was hiding among them but they seemed to do nothing about it at all, setting down the file, he started to look through all the remaining ones but couldn’t find any more about Jin, his sister Naomi or even a file on Mitsuru.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Takeshi’s Observations on Class 79-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Jin Arisato’s observation File 1-

“So we had our suspicions that they were all members of Despair… I wonder if we…” Kenji mumbled but he was cut off by a familiar voice that came from behind him and made him almost jump out of his skin.

“You wonder if we did anything right?” Replied the voice as Kenji looked back at the person and saw Minato standing there clutching something in his hands, the lucky student was about to ask what he meant when Minato looked away from him and towards one of the many makeshift beds that was near him. “No we didn’t do anything… We did indeed have out suspicions that they were members of Despair… But they hid it pretty well; we had three members of Despair hiding with us but it could’ve been anyone.”

The Lucky Student looked at Minato like he was insane, but he realized that Minato claimed that he was getting his memory back and the photos that he discovered on the fifth floor, the location of the vault and everything else that seemed to be coming back to him was fitting into place. But with the these three members of Super High School Level Despair hiding among them, Kenji couldn’t help but think that these members of Despair could be anyone in their group.

“Shall we go over what Super High School Level Despair and what the history of what is going on first?” Minato questioned and Kenji nodded in agreement.

“Alright, from what I’ve read in both the Professor’s and Katsuya’s notes…  Super High School Level Despair is described as despair made into humans, and their goal is to make the entire world fall into the depths of despair… But what doesn’t make sense is how these guys were able to bring the world to despair… But I think that it begins with the mass suicide of the Reserve Course Department of Hope’s Peak, because you see… There was another mutual killing game before Hifumi’s and ours.” Minato began and Kenji leaned against the table ready to listen to what Minato had to say.

“Anyways, the other mutual killing was in part of the old campus of Hope’s Peak Academy before this all started… There the Student Council expect two students were killed, one of the names were unknown to everyone but the Super High School Level Student Student Council President, Soshun Murasame survived the initial killings before he was killed himself by someone… According to Katsuya’s notes and my sister’s… Minako’s own investigation into the matter, it seemed that whoever planned such a killing wanted to show something… I personally don’t know what the real mastermind was planning but, it seemed to have a negative effect on those who found out about it…”

“What’re you talking about man? T-This is has to be a lie… I mean another mutual killing game before these two!? How fucking stupid do you have to be to believe that shit?!” The Lucky Student shouted at the Gamer who looked down at his feet and sighed.

“I… I wish I was joking but everything seems to be falling into place, Katsuya’s notes and even Minako’s, they are all are fitting together.” And with that, Minato pulled out two notebooks, each with their own handwriting on them and tossed them at the lucky student. Picking each of them up he went through the first one that had handwriting on it with the name ‘Minako Shirogane’ and he started reading the contents of the pages, everything with Minako’s investigation seemed to be what Minato was just telling him.

“So… What was Minako doing in the first place?” Kenji asked while Minato avoided all eye contact with the lucky student.

“Minako… She decided to do her own investigation after rumours were flown around that the Hope’s Peak Academy committee board were covering up something about a group of students killing each other two years ago… But knowing Minako and how her notes are usually disorganized… This could all be false for what we know…” Minato muttered while Kenji started going through Katsuya’s notes this time, and what Katsuya had discovered seemed to be fitting in with Minako’s notes too.

Kenji looked up at Minato and saw that he was looking at something, and judging by the size of the object, it looked like a bunch of photographs. Kenji ignored it for now since Minato seemed to be having a hard time looking at the photos and concentrating on the contents of the notebooks at the same time, but Kenji had to ask him something important. “Where did you find these things man…?”

The Gamer looked up at Kenji and stuffed the photographs in his pocket before rubbing the back of his head and smiling faintly, “I found them in the first level classroom, along with… something else…” He mumbled but Kenji nodded and saw that his friend looked visibly disturbed, “I know what you are gonna ask… What are in the photos right? Well… They are photos of me and my friends, like y’know, me, Matsu, Toji, Shoji and Hifumi…”

“A-Anyways I think we should go, Yukari and Akira told me that the rooms here are practically empty save for beds and that’s about it.” The Gamer said while Kenji nodded and pulled out his own notebook to add what they had just discovered down for the trial.

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Super High School Level Despair-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: The three members of Despair-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Memories-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: First Mutual Killing game two years ago-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Minako Shirogane’s Notebook-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Katsuya Ikari’s Notebook-  
-Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s mysterious photographs-

After the two of them spent some time pondering about what they had just discovered, the two of them agreed to make their way up to the first level to meet with everyone, however when the two of them reached the first level, there both of them bumped into Celeste who was holding a small object in her hands. When she saw Minato, it looked like she wanted to say something but she ended up running away from them and leaving the vault.

The Gamer ended up chasing after her, Kenji also followed the two of them as well, when he reached the gym, Kenji saw that Celeste was sitting on the bleachers looking at the object as Minato walked over to her. Making his way across the stage, the lucky student listened in on their conversation.

“What’s the matter with ya?” Minato asked as Celeste looked down at her feet and held out the object, the gamer picked it up and saw that it was a tiny puppet with the name ‘Kaori’ on the label. His eyes widened as he looked at Celeste. “This is… N-No way…”

The Gambler/Imposter looked up at Minato and nodded, “I was looking for this when we arrived, because when I moved away as a kid… You told me to hold it and it would comfort me… I remember you made this when we were kids, little dolls or puppets of us and you said it was a good luck charm.” She replied as she pulled out another little doll and Minato picked it up carefully and looked at it, it was a small doll that looked like him currently and he put them together.

“So you… Customized them huh, they really do look like us… Ah I remember now, you were that lonely girl sitting at the playground and I was the only one who would really play with you as kids… Kaori Suo…” The Gamer muttered as he gave both of them back, “I guess we really did fulfill that pinky promise when we were kids, we finally met each other when we were older… Oh yeah you don’t remember what happened during our school life.” Minato looked down at his feet and closed his eyes in thought, “You must think I’m insane, that I’m startin’ to get memories of a school life that you or the others have no recollection of…” He added but Celeste shook her head and stood up.

The Gambler wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him, “I know you aren’t going insane, because I always felt like something was missing the entire time… That’s why, when we get out of here… I want you to help me get my memories back…” She replied as Minato nodded and smiled at her, their faces started to come closer as the other members of Class 79 left the vault and stared at them as well, Meiko and a couple of the girls all said ‘Awwwwwww~’ while the boys were surprised that the two of them were that close to each other.

Both of their eyes widened and they turned towards the group and quickly let go of each other, Minato quickly fixed his orange tie while Celeste dusted off her dress, “O-Oi… What the hell are y’all are doing here!?” Minato shouted as Matsu chuckled and grinned at Minato.

“Fufufu~ I see you two are having a fluffy moment eh? Did you two make a pinky swear when you were kids to meet again or get married when you were older like in various anime?” The Otaku replied as Minato’s cheeks went red and he started shouting at Matsu while he was laughing at Minato and was quickly replied with a basketball to the face.

Everyone cringed when he fell backwards and when they looked back at the two of them, they saw that Celeste was leaning over like she threw a ball, she noticed that they all were looking at her and she cleared her throat, “I think we should make our way to the red doors since it seems that our investigation time is up.” The Gambler said calmly while some of the students started chuckling as Matsu got up and rubbed his nose, while they all made small talk about what they had discovered in the vault, the Monokuma announcement started playing on the intercoms.

“Upupupu~ I guess you can say that all things come to an end …Well, then. Let’s begin! It’s time to start the final school trial, let’s meet again, at the usual place! See you all in the courtroom, upupupupu~”

The group gave each other worrying looks as they all left the gym and walked towards the big red doors at the other end of the floor, the remaining 12 students all entered the room and stared at the elevator as the doors opened. No one dared moved a muscle, the only thing that could be heard was their collective breathing and the ticking of some of their watches and even the clock in the main hallways was heard.

Kenji sighed and turned to the group of students, all of them looked at him and he smiled at them. “Hey listen you guys, we have come this far and there’s nothing stopping us now from getting out of this school… With all this evidence we can sure as hell expose the mastermind so come on guys… Let’s just finish this and get the hell out of here to see the outside again!”

Kenji however looked down at his feet, “Well whatever is left of the outside… But the Future Foundation will certainly help us when we get out of here… But we need to look towards the future, so let’s fucking end this trial!” He shouted as the class cheered and ran onto the elevator, Minato shut the doors as Kenji slammed his fist on the button.

As the elevator began its slow descent to the courtroom, Kenji started thinking of all the fallen students and the professor, all the pain and despair that was thrown at them and they are still going, ‘This time… I’m gonna keep my promise to the others and get the rest outta here!”


	21. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their final class trial finally in front of them, will the group finally corner the mastermind and finally see the light of freedom?

As the elevator to the courtroom made lowered slower than usual, no one had their heads down or even had a hint of fear in their eyes or faces, all twelve remaining students only had one thing on their mind: That they were so close to leaving this twisted despair filled school.

When the elevator had finally stopped, the doors shuddered and opened slowly, rays of light started peer through the doors as most of them covered their eyes from the sudden burst of light. When the elevator doors fully opened all of the students filed out of the elevator and made their way down a long hallway towards another set of large red doors that were identical to the ones on the first floor, in the front of the group was the Super High School Level Lucky Student, Kenji Katsuragi and the Super High School Level Gamer, Minato Shirogane who both put a hand on one of the door knobs, both of them looked at each other and nodded.

Turning the doorknobs, they opened the doors and they were greeted with the final courtroom and hopefully the final time they would ever see a courtroom in their lives, the courtroom looked like a large warehouse that had obviously seen better days, the floors were a sickly shade of emerald green and it had a checker design like the first floor, like always all the photos of the deceased students and the professor’s photo were in their usual places in the stands. The group entered the courtroom and all stood at their usual places, however Monokuma was standing on a podium in the vacant spot between the Professor’s old spot and Mitsuru’s spot at the stands.

Both Kenji and Minato pulled out their notebooks while everyone else readied up for the trial.

-Class Trial: All Rise!-

Monokuma: “Alright, this is the final school trial, so some special rules apply here!”

Monokuma: “Before we start, let’s make those rules clear.”

Monokuma: “If you correctly identify this school’s mystery and the mystery about why you were sealed in the vault…”

Monokuma: “You win!”

Monokuma: “However… if you fail to do any of that…”

Monokuma: “Then we win!”

Monokuma: “There’s a special exciting heart-thumping punishment awaiting the loser, of course!”

Mitsuru: “So does that mean you will be executing yourself then?”

Monokuma: “Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”

Minato: “No weaseling out of it this time right”

Monokuma: “Of course not, bears never go back on their word~”

Asuka: “Then why don’t you just execute yourself and be done with it already.”

Monokuma: “Oh I could do that buuuuuuuuuuut…”

Monokuma: “It wouldn’t be any fun if I just decided to do that!”

Matsu: “What about that student who was killed on the fifth floor?”

Monokuma: “Oh you were talking about that student eh, tubby?”

Minato & Matsu: “Wow rude!”

Kenji: “Will you two forget about that for now?”

Kenji: “We can deal with it after!”

Monokuma: “Anyways, ignoring our tubby students… You wanna know about that guy right?”

Monokuma: “Well… he doesn’t matter to this trial since he is only a side character… Nothing more~”

Akira: “I knew it!”

Akira: “I knew that student was only a decoy and a trap for us!”

Celeste: “You only knew that after we explained it too you…”

Minato: “Well now that little mystery was wrapped up… I think we should now focus on what’s in front of us.”

Kenji: “Yeah I agree… What should we start with then?”

Minato: “The location of the vault and why it was created in the first place.”

Kenji: ‘ _Minato’s right… But I don’t have any evidence relating to the vault or why it was there… Come on man you must have something to help us…_ ’

Truth Bullets: ~Minato’s stock~

  1. Second Floor Lockers
  2. Sora Kigiri’s location
  3. Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster
  4. Four Missing students
  5. Location of Missing Students
  6. Super High School Level Despair
  7. Hope’s Peak Academy Class 78 Roster
  8. Location of the Vault
  9. Vault Password Hint
  10. Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster’s e-handbook
  11. Photo of the headmaster and his daughter
  12. Vault Password
  13. Hope’s Peak Academy Password
  14. Mysterious video
  15. Mysterious White-haired boy
  16. Jin Arisato
  17. Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook
  18. Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook
  19. Kyoko Kirigiri’s notebook



Truth Bullets: ~Kenji’s stock~

  1. Class 79 Files
  2. Jin Arisato’s Profile
  3. Jin Arisato’s Student Records
  4. Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan
  5. Monokuma Control Center
  6. Mitsuru’s Hypothesis
  7. Minato’s Hypothesis
  8. Mastermind’s method of watching the cameras and controlling Monokuma
  9. Mysterious Photos
  10. Group Photograph
  11. Biology Lab lights
  12. Secret of the biology lab
  13. Jin Arisato’s missing body
  14. Mystery of the nameplates
  15. Vault Blueprints
  16. Hikari Shinohara’s Diary
  17. Takeshi’s Observations on Class 79
  18. Jin Arisato’s observation File 1
  19. Super High School Level Despair
  20. The three members of Despair
  21. Missing Memories
  22. First Mutual Killing game two years ago
  23. Minako Shirogane’s Notebook
  24. Katsuya Ikari’s Notebook
  25. Minato’s mysterious photographs



“Let’s begin the trial!”

~Non-stop debate 1~

Minato’s Truth Bullets:

  * Super High School Level Despair
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Class 78 Roster
  * Location of the Vault
  * Photo of the headmaster and his daughter
  * Vault Password



Kenji’s Truth Bullets:

  * Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan
  * Monokuma Control Center
  * Mitsuru’s Hypothesis
  * Minato’s Hypothesis



Matsu: “So how did you guys even discover the location of the vault…?”

Matsu: “ **Did you use some weird eye jutsu**?”

Matsu: “Or did you use a lens of sort… **Maybe a lens of truth**!”

Asuka: “I highly doubt any of us could use such objects.”

Mitsuru: “No he has a point…”

Mitsuru: “Who **even knew the location of the vault** before any of us did?”

Shoji: “Well I sure as hell don’t know.”

Shoji: “I only went by what people **said about the location of the vault**.”

Yukari: “I think he knew the location of the vault right?”

Toji: “Ah I see who you are talking about…”

Toji: “Maybe it’s because Minato knows about the location because he’s a member of Super High School Level Despair!”

Minato: “No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Location of the vault-

-BREAK!!-

Minato: “Wow man… Nice way to accuse your friend of being part of that organization.”

Toji: “But you never know dude, you could be!”

Mitsuru: “Enough about Despair!”

Mitsuru: “How did you know about the location of the vault?”

Minato: “On the headmaster’s computer in his office, he left behind various files and even those relating to the vault, class rosters and even a small file on Super High School Level Despair given to him by my sister…”

Minato: “The file also mentions that the entrance to the vault is located behind the stage and is hidden among the curtains to your right.”

Kenji: “Ah I see… So you used that to pin-point the location of the vault right?”

Minato: “That… And I remembered the entrance when we entered it the day the headmaster was executed.”

Shinji: “Wait… What… The day the headmaster was executed?”

Meiko: “Are you telling me that you have false memories?”

Minato: “No they aren’t false at all; everything I remember feels real… That I was forced to forget those memories.”

Mitsuru: “When did you start getting these memories back?”

Celeste: “It was after he woke up from getting hit over the head by Katsuya… After that he’s been complaining of having headaches and getting flashbacks and various memories returning to him.”

Kenji: “Yeah I remember, Minato said that he was starting to remember something… But what does that all mean?”

Minato: “I think you know perfectly well, when we were alone for a bit you mentioned meeting participants of the second mutual killing game… Makoto, Byakuya and Kyoko, right?”

Minato: “What did they tell you that they said that you had this entire time…?”

Kenji: “Now that you mentioned it… Byakuya mentioned something about them also missing memories too… What was the term again…?”

-Hangman’s Gambit-

_M__S_A

“Wait a second… That must be…”

-AMNESIA-

“It’s all coming together!”

-COMPLETE!!-

Kenji: “We all have amnesia like, Makoto said.”

Matsu: “Ah that’s makes so much sense…”

Matsu: “Like hell it does, there’s no way I’m falling for such a cliché plot twist!”

Minato: “No he’s not lying; we are all suffering from amnesia.”

Toji: “Oh really now, then where’s the proof?”

Mitsuru: “…I have to agree with, Toji… This is just a theory so how can we know it’s the truth?”

Kenji: “I think it’s true because of a couple pieces of evidence.”

Minato: ‘ _Kenji’s right, what will support this theory…_ ’

-Select truth bullet from Minato’s stock-

  * Second Floor Lockers
  * Sora Kigiri’s location
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster
  * Four Missing students
  * Location of Missing Students
  * Super High School Level Despair
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Class 78 Roster
  * Location of the Vault
  * Vault Password Hint
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster’s e-handbook
  * Photo of the headmaster and his daughter
  * Vault Password
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Password
  * >>> _[Mysterious video]_
  * Mysterious White-haired boy
  * Jin Arisato
  * Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook
  * Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook
  * Kyoko Kirigiri’s notebook



‘This must be it!”

The gamer pulled out a DVD and showed it to the class, all of them looked surprised and Minato put it back in his hoodie pocket.

Minato: “This DVD is literally one of the few pieces of evidence that we have for the theory on our amnesia.”

Matsu: “Fufufufu~ so what’s on the DVD, is there something naughty on it? ~”

Minato: “No of course not!”

Minato: “…Although I wouldn’t mind if there was something naughty on it…”

Kenji: “Er… What did you say, man?”

Minato: “N-Nothing… Anyways this video has all of us meeting with the headmaster of the academy.”

Minato: “He wanted to know if we all would stay in the walls of the academy along with Class 76, 77 and 78.”

Yukari: “And it’s obvious that we would say no right!?”

Minato: “That’s not the case, Yukari… Because you see…”

Minato: “We all agreed to stay in the academy.”

Everyone all looked at Minato like he was insane, even a couple of them said that they wouldn’t agree to that and some even saying that they don’t remember even meeting the headmaster at all.

Shoji: “T-This is impossible… There’s no way that we all could’ve agreed to that!”

Kenji: “As much as I would like to deny that, it seems we have no choice to accept it…”

Matsu: “Well I’m not gonna accept it, there’s no way this cliché plot twist is real!”

Minato: ‘ _Matsu… Well I suppose I have to show you huh…_ ’

-Non-Stop Debate 2-

-Present your evidence!-

-Truth Bullets from Minato’s Stock:

  * Jin Arisato
  * Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook
  * Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook
  * Kyoko Kirigiri’s notebook
  * Four Missing students
  * Location of Missing Students



-Truth Bullets from Kenji’s Stock:

  * Super High School Level Despair
  * The three members of Despair
  * Missing Memories
  * First Mutual Killing game two years ago
  * Minako Shirogane’s Notebook



Matsu: “T-There’s no way **that we set foot in this academy before**!”

Matsu: “ **That’s a lie** and you know it!”

Asuka: “As much as I don’t want to admit it…”

Asuka: “ **Matsu might be right** …”

Toji: “…It seems that the theory of amnesia is about to thrown out the window…”

Matsu: “See, that theory is a load of bullshit!”

Matsu: “Besides **I never even attended any classes here**!”

Minato: “No that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook-

-BREAK!!-

Minato: “Actually man… You did attend classes here…”

Matsu: “Eh?”

Minato: “Remember when you and Shinji tried breaking into the lockers on the second floor of the dorms?”

Minato: “Well I found your locker…”

Matsu: “Oh really now?”

Matsu: “What was in it then?”

Minato: “A bunch of anime figurines and a notebook from one of your classes.”

Minato pulled out a blue notebook from his pocket and tossed it towards Matsu, the otaku caught it and started looking through the contents of the notebook before his jaw dropped and he eventually dropped the notebook on the ground.

Matsu: “T-This… This cannot be!”

Minato: There were also other pieces of evidence in the lockers too…”

Minato: “Such as a notebook for a student named Yasuhiro Hagakure and another notebook for Kyoko Kirigiri.”

Mitsuru: “I take it that those items were also notes from a class here too?”

Minato: “Well not exactly… Yeah Matsu’s and Hagakure’s notes were from classes taken here… but for Kyoko’s…”

Minato: “It’s a different story…”

Mitsuru: “What do you mean?”

The gamer pulled out Kyoko’s notebook and opened it, he flipped to the page that he wanted and held out the book in front of him for all the class to read, Kenji squinted to get a better look at the writing and was surprised at the contents of the notebook.

Asuka: “So it seems that this Kyoko person knew about Despair…”

Toji: But this doesn’t help with our current problem with our so-called amnesia y’know…”

Monokuma: “What do you mean calling it ‘so-called’ amnesia?”

Monokuma: “You all are suffering from amnesia!”

Minato: “So he confirms it after all.”

Mitsuru: “I had my suspicions that you were the one behind this… But the question that we should be asking isn’t how you took our memories…”

Mitsuru: “Instead we should be asking what memories you took from us in the first place.”

Akira: “Yeah, tell us what memories you stole from us!”

Monokuma: “What does it matter anyways, besides he has the answer to your question, upupupu~”

Celeste: “Are you talking about, Minato?”

Yukari: “So do you know what he’s talking about man?”

Minato: “Monokuma and Super High School Level Despair stole our school memories, it seems that those memories I’ve been experiencing hasn’t been from another high school… No…”

Minato: “Those memories and flashbacks were all from here in Hope’s Peak Academy!”

Kenji: “That means those photos are fake either…”

Minato: “You… You saw the photos from the fifth floor?”

Kenji: “Yeah, those photos… It showed all of us in a classroom in Hope’s Peak and even a place that looks like dorms or even outside the academy.”

Kenji: “I knew that you kept them there so no one would panic when they saw them but when I finally discovered them again, I realized that something was up.”

Matsu: “What were in the photos you had, Minato?”

Minato: “…Most of them were me, you, Toji, Shinji and Shoji… And, Hifumi…”

Yukari: “Who’s Hifumi?”

Matsu: “Minato must mean… No way, that’s impossible!”

Matsu: “Minato must be talking about, Hifumi Yamada!”

Celeste: “Who’s Hifumi Yamada?”

Minato: “He’s a popular doujin artist who was accepted into the 78th batch of Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Minato: “I, Matsu, Toji, Shoji and Shinji met him one day when we were in the courtyard reading manga…”

Minato: “Ah right… You wouldn’t remember, Hifumi or that day…”

Matsu: “I wish I could remember!”

Matsu: “It would be awesome to rub shoulders with the great Hifumi Yamada and read previews of his next doujins!”

Minato: “Ahaha… Well man, if what my memories say is true… You and Hifumi were pretty close along with the rest of us.”

Matsu: “Gah! Now I wanna remember my school life here!”

Mitsuru: “We are getting a little of topic here, wasn’t there another person here who started showing signs of getting their memories back?”

Mitsuru: “And I’m guessing that another person had also discovered this too right?”

Minato: ‘Yeah she’s right… Who was the other student who started getting his memory back?’

-Select Someone-

  * Kenji Katsuragi.
  * Meiko Nakashima.
  * Minato Shirogane.
  * Kaori Suou.
  * Celestia Ludenberg.
  * Toji Kuzunoha.
  * Shoji Suzuhara.
  * Matsumoto Kishinuma.
  * Shinji Morishige.
  * Yukari Morishige.
  * Shinichi Nakamura.
  * Asuka Yoshida.
  * >> _[[Katsuya Ikari]]_.
  * Takeshi Narukami.
  * Hikari Shinohara.
  * Akira Hohaku.
  * Eikichi Takeba.
  * Mitsuru Shishido.
  * Seiko Yasuhiro.



“You’re the only one!”

Minato: “…Katsuya… He started getting his memory back too.”

Akira: “Huh, what the hell you talkin’ about man?”

Minato: “On the second floor, I remember that he was trying to search under the podium in a classroom and he ended up hitting his head on a metal pipe that was glued to the bottom of it.”

Meiko: “Oh I see what you are talking about!”

Meiko: “Katsuya hit his head on the pipe and he started to get his memories back right?”

Minato: “You’re right, Meiko…”

Minato: “Katsuya Ikari was slowly gaining his memory back like I am right now.”

Akira: “He could’ve come to us anytime to talk about it!”

Minato: “But he couldn’t, because everyone looked at him like he was insane, lost his mind or even thought that he was acting strange.”

Shinji: “So what you are saying is that… When he realized that he couldn’t talk to anyone or even trigger anyone’s memory back…”

Minato: “That’s when he went after me and Kaori.”

Minato: “Since we were all friends when we were attending classes here… he wanted us to regain our memories.”

Kenji: “I see… So since you all were close he wanted to get your memories back.”

Yukari: “But because he couldn’t control his strength… He ended up killing Kaori.”

Minato: “Also because she attacked him too, because she attacked him he had to defend himself…”

Minato: “And… he hit her over the head with enough force to almost kill her but for her to retain her memories…”

Mitsuru: “He managed to split you two up… He realized that Kaori would’ve been hard to hit over the head since she’s really combative, thus it would’ve taken a while to hit her over the head.”

Mitsuru: “Because of that, Katsuya targeted you first.”

Mitsuru: “You were a slower and easier target for him to help gain your memories back.”

Minato: “I… It was my fault… I… I should’ve listened to him when I had the chance.”

Minato: “If I did… Maybe none of this would’ve happened…”

Matsu: “Come on bro, you don’t need to beat yourself over it.”

Matsu: “None of us knew what was happening with him… So we all share the blame…”

Matsu: “Because none of us would talk to him he had to do what he needed to do.”

Minato: “Matsu… I… Thanks…”

Monokuma: “Boooooooooooooooring!”

Monokuma: “You realize how boring you all are right?”

Monokuma: “I should just execute you all now for being sooooooooooooooooooooo boring!”

Kenji: “Shut up you bastard, we are still thinking here!”

Monokuma: “Well you know that this trial is about the murder of Jin Arisato right?”

Minato: “Wait… You said earlier that the person who was killed was only a side character, why did you bring up the topic of his murder when clearly this is a trial about the mysteries of the school!?”

Kenji: “Minato has a point, why would you bring up someone who is clearly not dead?”

Minato: “Kenji… What’re you talking about?”

Kenji: “I’m talking about the true culprit behind Jin’s murder… And why it doesn’t add up!”

-Non-stop debate 3-

-Present your evidence!-

Minato’s truth bullet stock:

  * Four Missing students
  * Location of Missing Students
  * Super High School Level Despair
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Class 78 Roster
  * Location of the Vault



Kenji’s Truth Bullets:

  * Mysterious Photos
  * Group Photograph
  * Biology Lab lights
  * Secret of the biology lab



-Truth Bullet Fusion: Biology Lab lights & Secret of the biology lab-

Monokuma: “What’re you talking about, Kenji?”

Monokuma: “ **This trial has always been about Jin Arisato’s murder**!”

Minato: “ **Hold up just a second**!”

Minato: “You said earlier that this trial **wasn’t about Jin**.”

Mitsuru:  “Minato has a point…”

Mitsuru: “What is your game, Monokuma?”

Monokuma: “Game, what game?”

Monokuma: “The only way that this trial **isn’t about Jin is if he’s still alive**!”

Monokuma: “ **And everyone knows that he’s dead**!”

Kenji: “You’ve got that wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Secret of the biology lab & Biology lab lights-

-BREAK!!-

Kenji: “You just backed yourself into a corner, monoman!”

Mitsuru: “What’re you talking about?”

Kenji: “The Biology Lab, when I entered it there were only seven lights lit up.”

Kenji: “Naturally if there were eight deaths…”

Minato: “Then eight of the lights would’ve been on… Indicating that a body was placed in there!”

Kenji: “But, the mastermind realized that they couldn’t place the fake body inside of the lab because we would’ve gone searching in there.”

Minato: “So the mastermind disposed of the fake body!”

Kenji: “Yup, the mastermind basically ended up shooting himself in the foot this time…”

Kenji: “Like all the other times too!”

Minato: “Eh, what’re you talking about man?”

Kenji: “The mastermind did a piss-poor job of hiding his identity this entire time.”

Mitsuru: “I see what you mean; he really did do a horrible job of hiding his identity… Isn’t that right?”

Kenji, Minato & Mitsuru: “Jin Arisato!”

Monokuma: “Y-You are speaking nonsense!”

Monokuma: “To say that I’m, Jin Arisato is just a coincidence!”

Minato: “Also you’ve been trying to hide his identity up to this point too!”

Minato: “Coincidence or not…”

Kenji: “You are lying though your teeth!”

- ** _Panic Time Battle_** -

Monokuma: “I don’t know what you are talking about!”

Monokuma: “Jin Arisato is dead!”

Monokuma: “You are speaking nonsense!”

-Tempo up!-

Monokuma: “Give it up you two!”

Monokuma: “You aren’t heroes for solving this case!”

Monokuma: “There’s nothing to prove that’s he’s alive!”

Monokuma: “ **I tried to hide Jin Arisato’s image? Where’s your proof?!** ”

Kenji & Minato: “NO, THAT’S WRONG!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Mysterious Photos & Group Photograph-

Monokuma: “G-Gah!”

-BREAK!!-

Minato: “The video isn’t the only time you tried to hide Jin’s identity from us!”

Monokuma: “E-Eh!?”

Kenji: “I also noticed it too when looking at the group photos of us all.”

Kenji: There was always something strange about them!”

Monokuma: “T-There’s nothing strange about those photos!”

Monokuma: “Don’t go sounding like Makoto here!”

Kenji: ‘ _What was the one thing that stood out for these photos…_?’

-Select an answer!-

  * The group photos in general
  * >>> **[[Jin Arisato’s face]]**
  * Minato Shirogane’s face



“That must be it!”

Kenji: “All the photos that we had discovered has Jin’s face mysteriously edited out or he’s hiding in the shadows like a goddamn rat!”

Kenji: “It’s strange how his face doesn’t show up in any of them… Except for one…”

Kenji pulled out a group photo off the class standing behind a bunch of desks, the class all took a good look at it and saw a white haired boy standing off to the left beside Minato and Kaori, the boy had messy, straight, silver hair and purple eyes with his bangs hanging over his right eye. He had a standard director uniform with white gloves, black heavy trench coat, black baggy trousers, and black leather boots.

Everyone all looked at the photo then they turned their direction towards Monokuma, the bear was looking distressed and Kenji smirked when he realized that he had finally cornered the mastermind.

Monokuma: “T-That’s just a pure coincidence that Jin’s face is missing!”

Monokuma: “He could be a very shy person for all we know!”

Minato: “That’s not the case… In his file it said that he was a proud and confident young man.”

Monokuma: “…Fu-xanadu!”

Celeste: “I guess you can say that we finally cornered the mastermind”

Celeste: “And we exposed both the true identity of the mastermind, and the crime he committed.”

- **Closing argument** -

Kenji started to piece together everything that didn’t add up for this trial, even going back to the day they ‘first’ met.

“IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER!”

“I think we should go back to the day we all met, there were nineteen of us in total including the professor, however there was one other person who was missing the entire time, that person was Jin Arisato and he was hiding somewhere in the school. He realized that he could copy the same mutual killing game of Class 78 so he made sure to wipe our memories, when he finally took control of the school he made sure to wipe his existence off the face of the planet by destroying some of his file but he forgot about the files in the Headmaster’s room and the files on the headmaster’s computer.”

“When the mastermind realized that we were finally cornering him, and when both Minato and Katsuya started to get their memories back he had to do something, and that something was murder… So he killed someone with the same measurements as him –in reality this person was a member of Super High School Level Despair like him- when we discovered the body he manipulated the class trial to make it seem that I was the murderer… But he didn’t count for Minato’s own investigations into the matter…”

“When the mastermind finally realized that he had to get rid of the body, he couldn’t place it in the biology lab, because he knew that we would go hunting for it when the last investigation began… So he dispoed of it while everyone was fighting Monokuma and before I got back.”

“So that means… The real culprit and the mastermind behind the entire mutual killing game of Class 79 and the one operating Monokuma is…”

“None other than… The real Jin Arisato!”

-COMPLETE!!-

Kenji: “Yo, How about it?! This is the whole truth about this mutual killing!”

Monokuma: “……….”

Toji: “Eh …What’s wrong? Are you pretending to broken again!?”

Monokuma: “……….”

Celeste: “Give it up, you aren’t escaping this time!”

Monokuma: “………….”

Minato: “Give it up, Jin Arisato. It’s over!”

Monokuma: “Did you say… This is over…?”

Monokuma: “Upu…Upupupu~”

Monokuma: “Not with a climax like that, and besides there’s two other guests who will be joining us soon!”

Monokuma then jumped off the podium and landed on the floor behind him, coming up from the floor was white smoke that hid Monokuma from their view and when the smoke finally cleared, they all were greeted by the same while haired boy from the photo, he walked up the podium between Mitsuru and the Professor and smiled at the group.

???: “Well hello there everyone, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you… Well meet you all again, upupupu~”

???: “Since you all don’t remember me, I should properly introduce myself like I did that day two years ago…”

???: : “My name is Jin Arisato… And I’m the Super High School Level Ground Self-Defense Force Member…”

Jin: “Wait… That was my old title, I should say this from now on…”

Jin: “My name is Jin Arisato and I’m the Super High School Level Despair!”

Kenji: “I think it’s time that I wrap up this little mystery about the true mastermind behind this!”

The class all looked at Jin, some like Matsu, Toji and Shoji looked scared while some of them spat in his direction, both Kenji and Minato only glared at the mastermind while Mitsuru looked like she was going to be sick when he stood in the podium beside her.

Mitsuru: “No it can’t be… I… I thought for sure that you wouldn’t have been the one.”

Kenji: “What’re you talking about, Mitsuru?”

Jin: “Oh you didn’t know? Well our dear little heiress has been hiding a secret from you all this entire time~”

Jin: “Isn’t that right… Mitsuru Shishido… Member of Super High School Level Despair…”

Minato: “WHAT, YOU SAYING THAT MITSURU WAS A MEMBER OF DESPAIR THIS ENTIRE TIME!?”

Jin: “That’s precisely what I’m saying, tubby.”

Jin: “Mitsuru erased her memories along with you so that she could feel the despair of losing memories…”

Mitsuru: “So you caught onto my plan right?”

Celeste: “Mitsuru… What plan are you talking about?”

Mitsuru: “I wanted to erase my memory so I could suffer with them… It was a way for me atoning for my sins as a member of despair.”

Mitsuru: “It was the only way I could atone for my sins… And I wanted to try and help you all escape when Jin told me of his plans of forcing you all in a mutual killing…”

Jin: “But of course all your memories weren’t taken so you decided to help your dear classmates out.”

Minato: “So it was you who was giving Katsuya all the evidence… And you even gave me Hifumi’s tie, the same one I’m wearing now… and his cardigan, you even loosened the nameplate on my door.”

Minato: “To help us find a way to escape and for us to regain our memories.”

Mitsuru: “Yes… I retained some of my memories because I said that I wanted fewer memories taken out of me by the memory-deletion procedure…”

Jin: “And your plan eventually backfired on you…”

Minato: “It didn’t backfire at all!”

Minato: “Mitsuru was the one who put the pipe under the podium for Katsuya to hit, and she was gave him all the evidence that he could… She even helped him get to the fourth floor for the student files!”

Minato: “Mitsuru also helped me by giving me mementos of my friend…”

Mitsuru: “You knew huh…”

Minato: “I didn’t, but I had a feeling that someone was getting into my room when I wasn’t around.”

Jin: “But regardless, you all realize what this means!”

Jin: “Mitsuru is the enemy like me, meaning that we were the ones responsible for trapping all nineteen of you in the academy~”

Celeste: “What about… Them?”

Kenji: “Them?”

Celeste: “Minato, you know who I’m talking about right?”

Minato: ‘Them… Could she be referring to…?’

-Select Truth Bullet-

Truth Bullets: ~Minato’s stock~

  1. Second Floor Lockers
  2. Sora Kigiri’s location
  3. Hope’s Peak Academy Class 79 Roster
  4. >>> **[[Four Missing students]]**
  5. Location of Missing Students
  6. Super High School Level Despair
  7. Hope’s Peak Academy Class 78 Roster
  8. Location of the Vault
  9. Vault Password Hint
  10. Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster’s e-handbook
  11. Photo of the headmaster and his daughter
  12. Vault Password
  13. Hope’s Peak Academy Password
  14. Mysterious video
  15. Mysterious White-haired boy
  16. Jin Arisato
  17. Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook
  18. Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook
  19. Kyoko Kirigiri’s notebook



“THIS MUST BE IT!”

Minato: “The four missing students, right?”

Kenji: “Who were they?”

Minato: “They were, Hiroshi Nobu, Sora Kigiri, Naomi Arisato and… My sister…”

Minato: “Minako Shirogane…”

Meiko: “What happened to those four?”

Jin: “They escaped from the academy the moment I started hunting you all down to erase your memories!”

Mitsuru: “Jin’s right… I helped them escape and told them to find the Future Foundation.”

Kenji: “So that’s why, Makoto and the others are here… How did we even know about them…?”

Mitsuru: “Shoji… He made contact with Alter Ego and using Alter Ego he contacted the outside for us, plus Minako also brought them here too.”

Minato: “So… She really did care…”

Mitsuru: “Minako does care about you, that is why she told you stay in the academy because she didn’t want her only remaining family member to die out there.”

Minato: “…………..”

Jin: “Well enough about that!”

Jin: “I think it’s about time we introduce our next guest to this party!”

Mitsuru: “No… You don’t mean, I thought she was dead!”

Jin: “Oh no, Mitsuru… You realize that she’s far from dead!”

Jin: “In fact… She’s watching us right now!”

And with that, Jin slapped the photo of the professor on the ground which caused the students and even Mitsuru to shout at him in disgust, after the professor’s photo hit the ground with a resounding thud on the ground. A bright light shined down from the ceiling, the students had to cover their eyes but Minato and Kenji both looked at the light and the shape of a girl was in the middle of it. Mitsuru shook her head and backed away from the podium as the light disappeared and a girl who had blue eyes and long, thick, strawberry blonde hair tied in two pigtails.

???: “So it seems that I have returned from the dead!”

Mitsuru: “…No… This can’t be… you were killed!”

???: ““Well, Mitsuru… I guess you can say that yes I am dead, but I’m also like that little annoyance, Alter Ego.”

Shoji: “You’re an AI!? That means you were that virus that Alter Ego told me about!”

???: “That’s right, Shoji~”

???: “But enough of that now… I should introduce myself since you all forgot who I am.”

Junko: “My name is Junko Enoshima, and I’m the Super High School Level Despair!”

Meiko also backed away from the podium and shook her head; she like the others couldn’t believe that the other mastermind, along with Jin was the same Junko Enoshima from the countless magazines that they had all seen before coming to the academy.

When Junko saw their faces, she started laughing at them all. The class was struck silent, nobody dared speak a word or even breathe even Kenji and Minato were silent like the rest of them, The Lucky Student looked at both of the Despairs and clenched his teeth with only one though running though his mind as Junko was laughing at them.

“How’re we going to win this trial?”


	22. Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… Part 5

-Previously on Danganronpa: Infinite Despair-

Jin: “Well enough about that!”

Jin: “I think it’s about time we introduce our next guest to this party!”

Mitsuru: “No… You don’t mean, I thought she was dead!”

Jin: “Oh no, Mitsuru… You realize that she’s far from dead!”

Jin: “In fact… She’s watching us right now!”

And with that, Jin slapped the photo of the professor on the ground which caused the students and even Mitsuru to shout at him in disgust, after the professor’s photo hit the ground with a resounding thud on the ground. A bright light shined down from the ceiling, the students had to cover their eyes but Minato and Kenji both looked at the light and the shape of a girl was in the middle of it. Mitsuru shook her head and backed away from the podium as the light disappeared and a girl who had blue eyes and long, thick, strawberry blonde hair tied in two pigtails.

???: “So it seems that I have returned from the dead!”

Mitsuru: “…No… This can’t be… you were killed!”

???: ““Well, Mitsuru… I guess you can say that yes I am dead, but I’m also like 

that little annoyance, Alter Ego.”

Shoji: “You’re an AI!? That means you were that virus that Alter Ego told me about!”

???: “That’s right, Shoji~”

Junko: “My name is Junko Enoshima, and I’m the Super High School Level Despair!”

Meiko also backed away from the podium and shook her head; she like the others couldn’t believe that the other mastermind, along with Jin was the same Junko Enoshima from the countless magazines that they had all seen before coming to the academy.

When Junko saw their faces, she started laughing at them all. The class was struck silent, nobody dared speak a word or even breathe even Kenji and Minato were silent like the rest of them, The Lucky Student looked at both of the Despairs and clenched his teeth with only one though running though his mind as Junko was laughing at them.

“How’re we going to win this trial?”

Chapter 6, Part 5: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy…

The class was silent, Minato gulped and Kenji only glared at Junko, the others looked terrified save for Celeste, Akira, and Shinji. They were only taking in the situation and judging by how hard they were thinking, they were coming up with a plan that would probably end with the entire class getting killed in the process, but instead of doing anything, they all stood by their podiums.

Meiko: “J-Junko, you… you were the mastermind the entire time!?”

Junko: “Why yes, Meiko… Of course you already knew that I was the mastermind but now you can’t remember that you already knew about this.”

Junko: “…That’s really sad, don’t you think…?”

Matsu: “Her personality changed again!”

Asuka: “What the hell is up with this bitch!?”

Asuka: “I dunno what the hell is going on but she is seriously pissing me off!”

Junko: “Like you are one to fuckin’ talk!”

Junko: “Just the fucking sight of you makes me want to barf!”

Asuka: “What did you just fucking say, you goddamned bitch!”

Asuka: “I’ll fucking come over there and rip that goddamn tongue out of your fuckin’ mouth!”

Mitsuru: “Asuka, calm down… This is just Junko’s way of trying to get you to act without thinking.”

Jin: “Oh it seems that things are really getting interesting here.

Jin: “I should’ve introduced Junko to you all again a little earlier.”

Minato: “You didn’t need to do such a thing you know… This is like something from a horribly cliché video game that it hurts.”

Junko: “You know I would go through an explanation about how I became full of despair and everything that lead up to this point.”

Junko: “But really I don’t think that’s nessacary this time, I already did that last time with the other bunch.”

Yukari: “The… other bunch…?”

Minato: “She’s talking about Class 78 and their final class trial…”

Minato: “I see what you’ve done, Jin… You wanted this to be like Class 78’s class trial by bringing Junko here.”

Kenji: “But you realize that we are completely different from them right?”  
Celeste: “Sorry for asking but, what is Junko doing here in the first place… And what is her role in all this?”

Kenji: “When I met Makoto, Byakuya and Kyoko… They mentioned Junko Enoshima when they were telling me about the tragedy.”

-Flashback-

“Her name was… Junko Enoshima…” Makoto replied as Kenji’s eyes widened at the mention of Junko’s name, he had heard Meiko mention her numerous times in the past then again he knew about Junko Enoshima’s reputation as one of the top fashion models in the country that even Meiko Nakashima paled in comparison to Junko’s popularity.

“She was the one behind the mutual killing- No… the entire Tragedy that has engulfed the world… Junko Enoshima is the person known as the “True Super High School Level Despair” that caused the Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in The History of Mankind and one of our former classmates during our time at Hope’s Peak Academy.” He added while Kenji was trying his best to piece all of this together, while he was trying his best to piece it all together it all seemed too fictional. This was like something out of a cliché manga that even Matsu would toss out the window if he got his hands on it.

-Flashback end-

Kenji: “Junko Enoshima is the one who caused the Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in The History of Mankind!”

Toji: “The Worst, most… Y’know what, let’s call it The Tragedy from now on!”

Toji: “Anyways, what the hell is this Tragedy and how did it even begin?!”

Minato: “I’m pretty sure; Kenji has the answer to that one, dude”

Kenji: ‘…Minato’s right, what pieces of evidence do I have that supports this…’

Truth Bullets: ~Kenji’s stock~

  * Class 79 Files
  * Jin Arisato’s Profile
  * Jin Arisato’s Student Records
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan
  * Monokuma Control Center
  * Mitsuru’s Hypothesis
  * Minato’s Hypothesis
  * Mastermind’s method of watching the cameras and controlling Monokuma
  * Mysterious Photos
  * Group Photograph
  * Biology Lab lights
  * Secret of the biology lab
  * Jin Arisato’s missing body
  * Mystery of the nameplates
  * Vault Blueprints
  * Hikari Shinohara’s Diary
  * Takeshi’s Observations on Class 79
  * Jin Arisato’s observation File 1
  * Super High School Level Despair
  * The three members of Despair
  * Missing Memories
  * >>> [[First Mutual Killing game two years ago]]
  * >>>[[Minako Shirogane’s Notebook]]
  * >>> [[Katsuya Ikari’s Notebook]]
  * Minato’s mysterious photographs



-Fuse the three truth bullets?-

  * >>> [[Yes]]
  * No



-New Truth Bullet Created: Pre-Despair evidence-

“This is it!”

Kenji: “Before you are all asking what Minato is talking about, it’s because of two little notebooks that he showed me.”

Mitsuru: “What’re you talking about, Kenji?”

Minato: “When I was looking around a first level classroom in the vault, I came across those books by Katsuya and my sister, Minako.”

Minato: “They are both detailing the events of the first ever mutual killing two years ago and how the tragedy came to be for the most part.”

Junko: “Well then, allow me to explain about The Tragedy before you get all high and might about those notebooks.”

Junko: “You see, the tragedy wasn’t started just by one person… It was a natural thing that just happened.”

Minato: “By happened, do you mean the fact that you just locked the entire Hope’s Peak Academy, Student Council in the old campus and forced them to kill each other?”

Junko: “And because of that, I broadcasted the footage of the mutual killing to the reserve course students and can you guess what they did?”

Minato: “…They… They rebelled and protested against the Academy, that’s what was in Minako’s notes…”

Junko: “The incident became so widespread that even the Academy couldn’t do anything about it from spreading.”

Junko: “This social unrest soon became a movement that spread outside the academy’s walls, turning more and more violent until violence and death became a normal part of society.”

Junko: “And what did Hope’s Peak do after finding out that it was getting violent for the students?”

Minato: “The Academy shut down… and it became a shelter for those who survived the harshness and the tragedy what was going outside.”

Junko: “And I hijacked the plan from the inside!”

Junko: “It was very fucking sad that I couldn’t get you all to participate in the mutual killing with Class 78!”

Junko: “If it wasn’t for that goddamn professor of yours, then everything would’ve gone to plan if you all remained in the academy instead of fleeing to the vault!”

Kenji: “SHUT IT!”

Kenji: “DON’T YOU DARE INSULT THE PROFESSOR!”

Kenji: “SHE’S MORE OF A PERSON THAN YOU’ll EVER BE!”

Junko: “Oh is that so, Kenji?~”

Junko: “You would say that about the person who betrayed you all and killed one of her students?”

Meiko: “T-That’s a lie… She only betrayed us because you Despair bastards made her betray us!”

Jin: “Ah so you blame us like everyone else does, but you realize the only reason she became the traitor is protect you all.”

Jin: “In fact it went along with what we used to kick start you’re… Well your drive to kill.”

Minato: “The drive to… Kill?”

Matsu: “Y-You mean… All those things that you threw at us… The DVDs, that video game and the other things…”

Matsu: “That was all meant for us to use to help us grow a pair and kill someone!?”

Junko: “That’s right, Matsumoto Kishinuma!”

Junko: “All those things that were handed to you were motives!” 

Junko: “Things that we used that we knew would strike a nerve with you all!”

Jin: “Can you guess what those motives were and what they meant?”

Kenji: “The motives… You mean with the DVDs… You targeted our futures with that one and that… That DVD drove Hikari to kill.”

Junko: “But our dear actress ended up dying instead!”

Junko: “And that same motive caused, Takeshi to fall into despair and drove him to kill Shinichi in the next case!”

Kenji: “The second motive was purely based on fears; you purposely targeted 

Shinichi since he had that small outburst at the pool.”

Jin: “And that same motive is what drove the professor to become our second traitor!”

Junko: “Because her greatest fear was losing all of you to death and despair!”

Kenji: “……..”

Minato: “The third motive would have to be… Memories…”

Minato: “But since only Katsuya was regaining his memories at the time, this motive was done in secret when you gave him the photo album of us two years ago.”

Celeste: “And that drove him to accidentally kill Kaori and injure Minato…”

Minato: “…..Katsuya.”

Kenji: “The fourth motive was betrayal… and probably something to do with Takeshi’s role as the traitor.”

Junko: “How despairingly… Wrooooooooooooong!”

Kenji: “W-What!?”

Junko: “Takeshi only attempted to kill, Akira because he was full of despair.”

Junko: “So by that point he had already became part of Super High School Level Despair! ~”

Minato: “There was no motive for the fifth one because, Jin wanted to kill, Kenji because he was getting so far.”

Minato: “Like how you tried to kill, Makoto Naegi during Class 78’s fifth Class Trial.”

Junko: “Upupupu~ what are you talking about, Minato~”

Minato: “Don’t play dumb you damn bitch!”

Minato: “You and Jin were trying to create parallels between us and Class 78 the entire time!”

Kenji: “Then it diverged after the second class trial.”

Kenji: “And even the third one too!”

Junko: “Oh you two are just spouting nonsense now!”

Junko: “You don’t even know the details about Class 78’s murders and trials!”

Akira: “Yo, Minato… You are remembering things right”

Akira: “Don’t you remember what happened during Class 78’s trials?”

Minato: “…My memories are coming back in bits and pieces; I only remember certain elements such as us being sealed in the vault and everything before that…”

Shoji: “So, you are saying that you don’t remember anything up to that point?”

Minato: “Sorry guys… But my memories are coming back slowly.”

Kenji: ‘… _I think I have what we need for this in order to back, Minato up_.’

~Non-stop debate 3~

-Truth Bullets - Minato’s Stock:

  * Vault Password
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Password
  * Yasuhiro Hagakure’s Notebook
  * Matsumoto Kishinuma’s Notebook



-Truth Bullets - Kenji’s Stock:

  * Mystery of the nameplates
  * Vault Blueprints
  * Hikari Shinohara’s Diary
  * Hope’s Peak Academy Vault Back up Plan



Jin: “So what do you think of your friend now that he **doesn’t have all the answers**?”

Matsu: “We gotta **have something** at least to throw in this guy’s face!”

Akira: “If we can’t remember what happened to Class 78…”

Asuka: “We are fucked…”

Junko: “That’s right fuckers!”

Junko: “ **You don’t even know anything about my class’ mutual killing**!”

Kenji: “No, that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Hikari Shinohara’s Diary-

Kenji: “Don’t get on your high-horse yet, Junko!”

Kenji: “There was somebody in the vault who wrote down everything they knew about the murders and trials of Class 78!”

Meiko: “What’re you talking about?”

Kenji: “Hikari… Hikari Shinohara wrote down everything in her diary about what was broadcasted to us while we were in the vault and even outside the school!”

Mitsuru: “How about you read what was inside her diary for us?”

Kenji: “Alright…”

The Lucky student grabbed, Hikari’s diary from his pocket and flipped it to the last few pages before it was cut off, clearing his throat he began to read what Hikari had written,

Kenji: “ _Day 5 continued… So Leon was executed, it was so brutal… So brutal that we had to look away while we were watching in the dining hall, Minato puked like usual when we saw the guy’s body. Why is the mastermind showing us these images? What do they hope to accomplish by showing our fellow students and friends killing each other_?’

‘ _Day 10 in the vault, Poor Chihiro… He got his head smashed in by that brute Mondo; Shoji was devastated by what happened and had to shut himself in his room for the duration of the trial and didn’t come out till the end of it. But Katsuya came up with a hypothesis that the mastermind couldn’t control Monokuma and watch the cameras at the same time so during the trial we sent out a small squad to explore the academy, that squad had Minato, Minako, Nobu, Celeste and Katsuya himself explore the two floors of that academy… They couldn’t find a way out sadly_ …’

‘ _I have lost track for how long we have been in the vault, it’s painful to think that we could be trapped in here all our lives… but there was some sad news too… Minato, Shoji, Toji, and Matsu watched in horror as one of their friends killed another student and in turn they were killed too. Minato took Hifumi’s death hard, I never seen him so disappointed and even Celeste and Kaori tried to talk to him but he didn’t even talk to them at all_ …’

‘ _We watched her burn and get run over by a fire truck, Celestia Ludenberg… the woman who was responsible for the deaths of two of our classmates was killed… Of course some of the guys here joked around that now that the ‘real’ Celeste was killed, our Celeste could finally be the legit Celestia Ludenberg. However she didn’t take that joke lightly and remained in her room for the entire night after that, I hope both her and Minato are doing alright_ …’

‘ _Makoto was declared the prime suspect for the case and was even betrayed by his friends, what was strange was that we all heard voices coming from behind the door on the third level of the vault… It sounded like Makoto and Kyoko, Kenji wanted to run out and greet them but the Professor and Jin prevented Kenji from opening the door to the garbage chute… They told him that if he made contact with those two it would surely attract the mastermind’s attention to us; then again with Monokuma always banging and slashing the vault door every evening… I’m sure that we were found out a long time ago_ …’

Kenji: “And that’s where it ends…”

Shoji: “Yo hold up for a moment, did you just say that the mutual killing game of Class 78 was broadcasted outside the walls of the academy?”

Kenji: “Yup, Makoto told me that the whole country was forced to watch the mutual killings as a way of showing the people that despair has set in the academy of hope!”

Minato: “And because we were in the vault… We were also forced to watch it too.”

Kenji: “And that’s why Hikari wrote about it in her diary.”

Asuka: “So if Junko and Super High School Level Despair broadcasted Class 78’s mutual killing… Does that mean… no way…”

Junko: “That’s right!”

Junko: “You are also being broadcasted to the country too!”

Kenji: “That’s a lie and you know it, Makoto told me that the Future Foundation jammed the airways after Hikari’s murder!”

Junko: “I’m not talking about then you silly~”

Junko: “I’m talking about right now!”

Shoji: “You mean… You broke though, Alter Ego’s firewall and my own Suzuhara Firewall to hijack the airwaves again!?”

Junko: “Of course, for a hacker your firewall if pretty useless~”

Mitsuru: “Why would you show the country the final class trial?”

Junko: “Only because I want them to see the Despairification of Class 79 finally come to fruition and for my absolute plan of the Despairification of mankind to finish!”

Minato: “The… The Despairification of… Class 79 and Mankind…?”

Shinji: “What the hell is she talking about!?”

Junko: “Oh right, you don’t know about the Despairification of mankind!”

Junko: “Well I should explain to you what it’s really about now shouldn’t I?”

Junko: “I’ll tell you all about the “Plan for the Despairification of Mankind” we Super High school Level Despairs came up with!”

Kenji: “W-What the fuck man…”

Junko: “Our story can be traced back to two years ago!

Junko: “Back to the time you all got invited to attend this school, five months after Class 78 was chosen!”

Junko: “You and the rest of the school spent the first year here living a peaceful school life full of Hope!”

Junko: “Man that school life was boring; it was the worst school life ever!”

Junko: “All you guys really enjoyed that year, though… It was truly the peak of your youth!

Junko: “That said, it did not last long. Peace only lasted one whole single year.”

Junko: “Ending the peace was the biggest hope-destroying incident that took place a year after we enrolled at this school; it was truly The Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident in the History of Mankind.”

Junko: “Like every other incident in the world’s history, peaceful days were soon gone from the world and of course this school was no exception to this.”

Junko: “One of that incident’s results was that most of Hope’s Peak Academy’s students expired.”

Minato: “Which only left us, Class 78, and small pockets of Class 75, 76 and 77… but they were killed when the headmaster was executed about half a year ago…”

Toji: “This is bullshit, there’s no way that… There’s no way that the world became like that!”

Kenji: “Toji… it’s true… When I was shot out of the academy… I saw the outside…”

Junko: “Oh yeah the outside, and let me guess… The Future Foundation is trying to return it all too normal right?”

Junko: “Well then I suppose I should tell you about the Despairification of Class 79 then~”

Junko: “By showing you all this!”

The mastermind snapped her fingers and the TV screens that surrounded them flickered on, what they saw on the screens sent chills down their spines and even managed to silence the entire group, Meiko shook her head and screamed while falling to her knees and covering her mouth, the others only looked at the TV screens in disbelief. On the TV was pure chaos, major world monuments were defaced with Monokuma signs, the screen changed to another scene which showed a bunch of people looting stores, killing each other and themselves too.

Junko: “Now do you see why it’s pointless to even try and get out of here?”  
Celeste: “No… You have to be joking… That can’t be going on out there!”

Junko: “Oh if it isn’t Celestia Ludenberg, I thought I burned you at the stake for killing Hifumi and Kiyotaka.”

Junko: “Ah I forgot, you have identity issues… Isn’t that right, Kaori Suo?”

Celeste: “What’re you…”

Junko: “Oh right you wouldn’t remember but yeah you saw the person you were impersonating killing Minato’s friend and a hall monitor.”

Junko: “So in reality… You are impersonating a murderer!”

Celeste: “No… No you’re wrong… No…”

Minato: “Kaori snap outta it!”

Celeste: “SHUT UP, I… I… DON’T LOOK AT ME!”

Junko: “Wow both you and the real Celeste probably do have something for larger guys, so tell me…”

Junko: “How many times have you forced, Minato into making you some milk tea?”

Celeste: “…I…I never did…”

Celeste: “JUST SHUT UP!”

Junko: “Oh that’s one down for the Despairification of Class 79!”

Asuka: “You keep mentioning that… What is the Despairification of Class 79?”

Junko: “Well you see I always had a back-up plan in case the original Super High School Level Despair, including Jin, Mitsuru and Naomi failed in their mission of causing despair.”

Kenji: “What’re you talking about…?”

Junko: “Celeste there is an example of the Despairification of Class 79… See what I had planned was that I would kill off Class 78, force myself into the vault and make you all play your own mutual killing game.”

Junko: “This would lead you all to despair and finally… Make you all full-fledged members of Super High School Level Despair!”

Junko: “And that’s the plan of the Despairification of Class 79!”

Minato: “You wanted to make us… members of Super High School Level Despair!?”

Junko: “Of course, Minato!”

Junko: “If the world saw you all despair, and become part of Super High School Level Despair…”

Junko: “The world has lost one of its last beacons of hope then!”

Jin: “That saying we know things that could make you fall into the deepest pits of despair.”

Junko: “Like how Shinji and Yukari’s family has been completely wiped out save for their parents who have gone missing.”

Shinji: “N-No…”

Yukari: “Y…You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

Jin: “How, all of Toji’s artwork has been destroyed and his old studio has been destroyed by his own friends.”

Toji: “That’s…”

Junko: “Matsu’s on family turned on each other over the state of their manga publishing business and they have all killed themselves because of it.”

Matsu: “…There’s no way that they would’ve done that!”

Jin: “Akira’s family has been completely wiped out by Despair.”

Akira: “…S-Shut up, I promised my brother that I would come home one day… He’s still alive and I know it!”

Junko: “Shoji’s own computer building business has been destroyed and even his own firewall has been considered obsolete.”

Shoji: “I…I… No…”

Jin: “Asuka’s books have been forgotten and even her old gang consider her to be too good for them now.”

Asuka: “Shut your fucking mouth, that’s not…”

Junko: “And for, Meiko… She’s nothing but a second rate fashion diva whom everyone has forgotten or either killed themselves because she wouldn’t notice them.”

Meiko: “N-No… I love my fans… And I’m not a second rate diva!”

Jin: “For Mitsuru…”

Mitsuru: “I already know… The Shishido Family was destroyed… That was my fault…”

Junko: “Oh, Minato… I guess you don’t want to hear why you should fall into despair… Besides the fact your whole so called ‘close-knit family’ was wiped out by each other… Even, Minako is probably dead by this point!”

Minato: “It’s a possibility that… That we Shirogane might be killed, that’s what my father told me when I was… a kid… No… Minako…”

Kenji: “Everyone, no snap out of it!”

Jin: “Oh and for you, Kenji Katsuragi… or should I call you by your alias…

Jin: “The Phantom.”

The Class all looked up and then turned their gazes towards, Kenji. Meiko shook her head and the others only started to question what, Jin was talking about.

Kenji: “What?”

Toji: “Who’s, The Phantom?”

Minato: “The Phantom was directly involved in The Lone Marebito Case that, Minako and I worked on before being accepted in Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Shoji: “You mean… That, Phantom… The gentleman thief that robs banks and leave’s their vaults empty!?”

Kenji: “I…I don’t what the hell you are talking about!” 

Kenji: “If I was The Phantom I would sure as hell remember such a thing!”

Junko: “See and that’s the miracle of memory erasure!”

Junko: “Want me to explain what your real Super High School Title really is and how you got accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy in the first place?”

Kenji: “What… No… Don’t!”

Junko: “Well you see, Kenji Katsuragi here… From a young age he always had the desire to help his family out so he took the natural route and became a thief, not just any thief… A gentleman thief.”

Junko: “Overtime, people started calling him… The Phantom and this person would sneak into a place and get barely noticed by the people working there or even the cameras!”

Junko: “But for Kenji, his ultimate goal was to attend Hope’s Peak Academy, but he knew that the school wouldn’t accept him as the Super High School Level Gentleman Thief, so he tried to apply for the reserve course… But naturally he failed the entrance exam and he decided to break into the academy and steal some objects to get the exam money that his parents had spent on him to enter the reserve course.”

Junko: “And in the process, he was caught by the Headmaster who was impressed by his abilities to break in undetected so he was invited personally by the headmaster to attend, Hope’s Peak Academy… But he was chosen as the Super High School Lucky Student because his luck allowed him to be discovered.”

Junko: “And that’s how, Kenji Katsuragi was accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy… It’s a pretty interesting story!”

Meiko: “Please tell this is wrong… You can’t be… The one who helped us get this far… Is really…”

Kenji: “…I… I don’t remember…”

Jin: “So are you ready to give into despair, all of you realize that you have no hope knowing that everything you love or cared about has been destroyed!”

Everyone fell silent, they didn’t have any fight left in them even the loudest and toughest students didn’t say a word or even managed to spout something out of their lips, Kenji looked at his classmates and saw that they all had blank expressions on their faces and some of them looked broken from what was told to them, the Lucky Student felt his blood run cold. Since this was being broadcasted to everyone in the world, they could all see that the entire class was going to fall into despair and they even found out some nasty secrets about some of them.

Kenji leaned over his podium and swore under his breath, he wanted to say something but his throat was dry, he couldn’t even come up with anything to say. That’s when his mind floated back to the deceased, how he and the others carried on their will to live on in whatever future they had left, Kenji remembered his promise that he made to the Professor moments before she was executed.

“Use your remaining life to think about what it means to live when surrounded by despair… That’s my final lesson to you as your teacher.”

That’s when something snapped in, Kenji’s mind, there was something that he could so for his friends, and that would be snapping his friends out this fit of despair, when he opened his eyes. Kenji saw that Junko was laughing as the class were looking paler than ever, for now he could only sputter out a simple.

Kenji: “Shut up…”

Jin and Junko stopped laughing and looked at the Lucky Student in surprise, Kenji wiped his eyes clear of any tears that started to build up in his eyes after hearing the Professor’s voice in his head, and Jin looked at him and gave him a smirk.

Jin: “Kenji, can’t you see that it’s impossible to win… You know there is a catch if you decide to execute either me or Junko’s AI right?”

Junko: “That’s right, since the air purifiers shut down the first time I got executed… I, being the brilliant AI that I am… Managed to start the air purifiers again because they were meant to turn on when the Vault opened up.”

Junko: “So that means you are sentencing your friends to death if you decide to execute either me or Jin.”

Kenji: “As long as we have a future out there… We sure as hell don’t need the air purifiers!”

Kenji: ‘I… I gotta snap these guys outta this… If I can tell them that we have a future… They will listen!”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Future-

-Non-Stop Debate 4-

-Truth Bullets:-

  * Future.



Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is over.

Meiko: “………..”

Kenji: “Meiko, don’t give up!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Meiko: “…I… If the world is really what it’s like what Junko and Jin said then… I want to see it!”

Meiko: “I’m sick of living in someone’s shadow, and yeah I know I’m some second rate fashion diva who can’t cut it even if she tried…”

Meiko: “Because of that… I want to live and better myself from here on out, that’s why…”

Meiko: “I’m coming with you, Kenji… No matter what, I wanna see what’s in my future!”

Kenji: “Meiko…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Meiko’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “………”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Celeste!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Celeste: “I… I have always been living as someone else; I always knew I didn’t have a future at all…”

Celeste: “Even as Kaori Suo or Celestia Luenberg, I always felt that empty knowing that the future was empty for me.”

Celeste: “Because of that, I want to carve my own path… I won’t be clinging onto my past self anymore, as long as I have you all and the hope to know that I have the ablilty to make my own future…”

Celeste: “But I will keep on living as both Kaori Suo and Celestia Ludenberg, only because I like the name… And don’t you all think that I suit the name, Celestia Ludenberg?”

Celeste: “I will keep on living because I know that you all will be there.”

Kenji: “Celeste…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Celeste/Kaori’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Yukari & Shinji: “………”

Kenji: “Don’t give up you two!”

Yukari: “Everything is happening so fast… How can we choose…?”

Shinji: “It’s simple… We both charge headfirst into the future, remember what she said to us when she beat us, Yukari!”

Yukari: “You mean… Sakura?”

Shinji: “Yeah… She said ‘Always look towards the future and grasp it by the horns and keep going!”

Yukari: “I finally see what she meant… Alright we’ve decided.”

Shinji & Yukari: “WE ARE LEAVING THIS GODDAMNNED SCHOOL!”

Shinji & Yukari: “We have a future and we aren’t gonna lose it now, we will rebuild from the ashes!”

Kenji: “You two…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Yukari’s & Shinji’s resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “………”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Toji!”

-Truth Bullet fired: Future-

Toji: “…I’ve been thinking about it…”

Toji: “If the world has really gone to hell then… What’s the point…?”

Toji: “My mother always used to say that the future is endless and it’s waiting for all of us…”

Toji: “I know my mom was right about that, so that’s why I’m going with you all!”

Toji: “I want to see what’s waiting for us all on the other side!”

Toji: “Just because the world has ended doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to tag any walls anymore, nah there’s more walls out there for me to tag!”

Kenji: “Toji…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Toji’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “…….”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Shoji!”

-Truth Bullet fired: Future-

Shoji: “A future you say… I never really thought of my future…”

Shoji: “I’m gonna keep this short and sweet like I always do.”

Shoji: “I’m not giving up, I’m gonna keep going and join you all…”

Shoji: “Because as long as there is computers and shit like that, I will always want to keep moving along with you and technology!”

Kenji: “Shoji…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Shoji’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “I will keep marching with you all and technology, no matter what!”

Jin: “Even if you all were to escape, where will you all go?”

Jin: “Remember that all of your families are gone and your friends have been wiped off the face of the planet.”

Asuka: “……..”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Asuka!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Asuka: “I know for a fact that if I keep on writing I will have a future…”

Asuka: “But if a future that is full of nothing is waiting for me… Then I don’t want it!”

Asuka: “However I know that the future isn’t handed to you on a fucking silver platter with a gourmet on the side!”

Asuka: “That’s why I’m gonna make my own future from here on out, and I already have a plan for my next novel the moment we get outta here!”

Kenji: “Asuka…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Asuka’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “I will keep marching with you all and technology, no matter what!”

Jin: “Even if you all were to escape, where will you all go?”

Jin: “Remember that all of your families are gone and your friends have been wiped off the face of the planet.”

Asuka: “I’m with you all to the end, y’know… Just say the word and let’s get outta here!”

Junko: “Everything you loved is gone and the outside is gone.”

Junko: “Why would you want to live towards a hopeless future?”

Akira: “…….”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Akira!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Akira: “A hopeless future huh… A future where everyone I love is gone…”

Akira: “I dunno if I can live in such a future but… I…”

Akira: “I’m gonna keep on living, if I just gave up here I know that my family wouldn’t forgive me.”

Akira: “I’m going with ya guys… You better have enough room for me!”

Kenji: “Akira…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Akira’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “I will keep marching with you all and technology, no matter what!”

Jin: “Even if you all were to escape, where will you all go?”

Jin: “Remember that all of your families are gone and your friends have been wiped off the face of the planet.”

Asuka: “I’m with you all to the end, y’know… Just say the word and let’s get outta here!”

Junko: “Everything you loved is gone and the outside is gone.”

Junko: “Why would you want to live towards a hopeless future?”

Akira: “I’m going with you all, and that’s final!”

Jin: “Even though the future is bleak for you all?”

Jin: “Why would you all care about such a hopeless and empty future where your sins remain?”

Mitsuru: “…….”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Mitsuru!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Mitsuru: It’s true… I… If I can repent for what I have done then I…”

Mitsuru: “No… What’s in the past is in the past; I will fully live on in the future will all of you.”

Mitsuru: “And the Shishido family isn’t dead, I still remain… I will use the future to atone for my sins and help rebuild the world!”

Kenji: “Mitsuru…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Mitsuru’s Resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “There’s no way that we are gonna give up now!”

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “I will keep marching with you all and technology, no matter what!”

Jin: “Even if you all were to escape, where will you all go?”

Jin: “Remember that all of your families are gone and your friends have been wiped off the face of the planet.”

Asuka: “I’m with you all to the end, y’know… Just say the word and let’s get outta here!”

Junko: “Everything you loved is gone and the outside is gone.”

Junko: “Why would you want to live towards a hopeless future?”

Akira: “I’m going with you all, and that’s final!”

Jin: “Even though the future is bleak for you all?”

Jin: “Why would you all care about such a hopeless and empty future where your sins remain?”

Mitsuru: “I will use the future to atone for my sins, so I will join you all.”

Junko: “You all are stubborn you know that, why go to a future where nothing remains at all?”

Matsu: “………”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Matsu!”

-Truth Bullet fired: Future-

Matsu: “…Is everything really destroyed…?”

Matsu: “What am I fighting for then if my family, our business is gone?”

Matsu: “…Nah I know what I’m gonna be fighting for!”

Matsu: “I’m gonna fight from here on out with all of you guys!”

Matsu: “Because the mastermind doesn’t have a thing called friends to back them up, as long as I have my friends…”

Matsu: “I’m not gonna lose here!”

Kenji: “Matsu…”

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Matsu’s resolve-

- **Repeat** -

Kenji: “As long as there is a future…”

Kenji: “We’ll keep on living for it!”

Junko: “If either I or Jin is executed …Hope’s Peak Academy is finished.

Meiko: “Say whatever you want, I’m going with you!”

Junko: By the way, the outside world is polluted and there’s nothing left.

Jin: “Of course it’s fine in here.”

Junko: “…But that’s just because we have the air purifier in the physics lab.”

Celeste: “Kenji, I already made my choice… It’s up to you now.”

Junko: “If we die, that machine is programmed to shut down.”

Junko: “In other words, the moment we’re dead…”

Jin “…This school will not be habitable anymore.”

Shinji & Yukari: “Say what you will but we are getting outta here!”

Junko: “You bastards will have no choice but to leave.”

Jin: “Go out to the outside world, where there’s only death and despair waiting for you all.”

Toji: “As long as there’s something waiting for me, I’ll follow you to the end man!”

Junko: “You realize that leaving this school means death right?

Junko: “Are you really gonna put your friends through that?”

Shoji: “I will keep marching with you all and technology, no matter what!”

Jin: “Even if you all were to escape, where will you all go?”

Jin: “Remember that all of your families are gone and your friends have been wiped off the face of the planet.”

Asuka: “I’m with you all to the end, y’know… Just say the word and let’s get outta here!”

Junko: “Everything you loved is gone and the outside is gone.”

Junko: “Why would you want to live towards a hopeless future?”

Akira: “I’m going with you all, and that’s final!”

Jin: “Even though the future is bleak for you all?”

Jin: “Why would you all care about such a hopeless and empty future where your sins remain?”

Mitsuru: “I will use the future to atone for my sins, so I will join you all.”

Junko: “You all are stubborn you know that, why go to a future where nothing remains at all?”

Matsu: “As long as I have you all, I will rebuild and keep on going with everyone!”

Jin: “Everything is gone you know, nothing will remain of you if you decide to leave.”

Junko: “Your friends, family and even your twin are all gone.”

Minato: “……..”

Kenji: “Don’t give up, Minato!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Future-

Minato looked at Kenji and smiled at him, he scratched the back of his head and backed away from the podium while shaking his head, the others also looked at him as he turned around and smiled at the group of students.

“I don’t know what was running through everyone’s minds while I blacked out but… I heard a voice, and it sounded like her’s… She was telling me to never give up and to keep on going or else she will pummel me to death, herself… Man that’s so Kaori…”

“But like everyone said, let’s work towards the future and get out of here… I have no reason to be mopey because some bitch and an asshole that has a stick up his ass, says we need to fall into despair… that’s why…”

“I’m joining the rest of you all and we are leaving this god forsaken academy!” 

-Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato’s Resolve-

The Gamer shouted while he pointed at Kenji, the lucky student chuckled as he saw Minato walk over to his podium and stood beside him, the others also soon followed, Minato and stood beside and behind, Kenji while Jin and Junko looked surprised at all of them.

The masterminds looked disgusted at the twelve students while Kenji smirked and leaned over his podium, Junko grabbed onto hers and started shouting at them all about how meaningless it would be to escape the academy when there’s nothing waiting for them on the other side of the door, Kenji only sighed and looked down at his e-handbook where he saw that all their resolves were recorded in the evidence section.

-Truth Bullets:

  * Future
  * Meiko’s Resolve
  * Celeste/Kaori’s Resolve
  * Shinji & Yukari’s Resolve
  * Toji’s Resolve
  * Shoji’s Resolve
  * Asuka’s Resolve
  * Akira’s Resolve
  * Mitsuru’s Resolve
  * Matsu’s Resolve
  * Minato’s Resolve



-Fuse all the truth bullets?-

  * >>>Yes
  * No



-New Truth Bullet Created: Our Futures-

Kenji looked back up and saw that Junko and Jin were still shouting at them, the group didn’t look fazed at all while Minato placed a hand on Kenji’s shoulder and smiled at him, Kenji looked at Minato and nodded the two of them then faced the two despairs when they heard both of them shout...

“ **Despair at the future! Despair at the unknown! Despair at your memories! FALL INTO INFINITE DESPAIR**!”

Both, the gamer and lucky student pointed at the two of them and shouted, “No, that’s wrong!”

-Truth Bullet Fired: Our Futures-

When she heard the two of the shout at her, the mastermind fell silent and looked at the two of them she couldn’t belive that she had lost a second time to a group of hope filled students, “I… I lost to you all… This is just like the last time…”

Minato looked at Kenji and nodded, “It’s up to you man… Who do you want to be executed the most?”

-Select someone-

  * Jin Arisato
  * >>>[Junko Enoshima]



“We execute the AI…  And we will have no more problems from here on out…” 

Jin glanced over to Junko and looked surprised, “Junko… You can execute them at any time you know!” 

“Don’t even try it!” Shouted Mitsuru from as she selected, Junko to be executed from her podium, both Jin and Junko looked at her as she walked away from her podium and joined the others who were standing by Kenji and Minato, the others also made their way to their podiums and pressed the button that was beside Junko’s name and walked back over to Kenji.

“It’s over, Junko… There’s no need to fight it anymore, I know that this is despair for you so… Just shut up and stay dead this time…” The lucky student muttered while the others all murmured in agreement and the mastermind sighed and looked at the group before laughing at them all, the class all looked at Junko with puzzled gazes before she smiled at all of them.

“Its fine, I’m going to spare you all from the long speech I gave to Makoto and his friends… But just so you know… Despair is everywhere, no matter how hard you try to shut your eyes and clamp your hands over your ears, despair will always be following you to the day you all die.”

The hologram fell silent before she disappeared and she then appeared on the TV screen above them, they all watched as the AI was being dragged to her execution.

-Execution Start-

Junko was standing in the middle of a green room as digital versions of all their friend’s executions were appearing behind her, she was waving to the group as she was dragged to each and every one of them.

-Super Duper Nasty Ultimate Torture/Punishment R-

-Cupid’s Final Arrow-

Junko was shown standing on a wooden circle as it was being spun around so fast that all they saw was a blur as she was getting pelted with the same arrows that killed Eikichi.

\- 1 Million Man Melee-

Junko was standing in a room filled with Monokumas as they all started shooting her with various guns and she didn’t even react to the bullets hitting her.

-Execution: After School Lesson/Detention-

She was sitting in a chair as the block kept hitting her over and over again, trying their best to squash her into nothingness.

\- The (un)Lucky Student’s Target Practice-

When Junko opened her eyes, she saw that she was chained to a pole with Monokuma. She didn’t even bother struggling against the restraints as guns lowered down from the ceiling and took aim at her; Junko’s smile began to grow more twisted as they began to fire around her. Each shot getting closer and closer until he started to feel the heat from every single blast, he looked up and saw that everyone was looking at her, she smiled at all of them as the final gun reached face level with her.

She then turned to face the students who were looking at her on the TV as the gun was charging up its final shot, she said nothing as it fired and the AI was finally destroyed.

-Execution end-

The students all lowered their gazes from the TV screen and saw that Jin was missing; Kenji ran over to his podium and found a letter that was nailed to the back of it, grabbing it off the back of the podium he read it out loud for the group to hear.

“ _If you want to find me, then you must chase me to the city that houses the branch where Hope’s Peak Academy had a massacre_.”

“That bastard escaped!” Shouted Asuka from the crowd.

After he read it, a button came crashing down on Matsu’s head and bounced off it as it landed in Minato’s hands, all twelve of them looked at this button and the gamer nodded at all of them as he made his way to the elevator in silence.

‘That’s how it ended…

The final school trial…

Even that “Super High school Level Despair” chick, Junko Enoshima and that bastard Jin Arisato…

Even our school life at Hope’s Peak Academy…

…They all ended in a flash.’

Chapter 6: Say farewell once again to Despair Academy… End


	23. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their final class trial finished, the group has finally found their escape button... What will be waiting for them on the other side of the doors?

The three members of the Future Foundation sighed with relief when they saw the outcome of the trial even Naegi had his doubts that they were going to be able to win and overcome despair, he leaned back in his chair while smiling and nodding to himself as the phone on his desk started ringing, the lilac-haired girl walked over to theringing phone and picked up the receiver.

“Hello, ah yes… Oh I see, is everything being taken care of?” She replied to the other person on the talking end of the call, the girl closed her eyes in though and sighed while setting the receiver down, Byakuya asked her what was the call about and she looked towards the academy, “The HQ wants us to bring them to the base ASAP, also the Future Foundation has started to cover up the broadcast from the last class trial but it will take some time before it’s fully forgotten by the public.”

The blond nodded and got up from his seat, the other two former students looked at him as he reached the tent door. “Are you two coming or not, we need to greet them all and Makoto you need to help them recover their memories, I think the helicopter will be here soon to pick them up, right?” And with that said he disappeared, both Naegi and Kyoko both smiled and followed the heir to the gates of Hope’s Peak Academy to meet with their fellow survivors and classmates.

-Meanwhile… Inside Hope’s Peak Academy’s entrance hall-

The survivors of Class 79 were silent, the humming of the air purifiers had finally come to a halt like Jin and Junko had said they would when one of them would’ve died and the only thing that accompanied them was silence.

Everyone stood in the entrance hall looking up at the great big doors that was in front of them, like how they were all inside the gym at the start of the mutual killing game, no one dared move a muscle it was like every one of them wanted to savour the moment for as long as they could, however Meiko pushed past Kenji and smiled at him. “You know we can’t stay here forever, we will eventually have to leave!”

Kenji smiled back at her and looked down at the button that was given to him by Minato, “So is this thing really going to open the door and not trigger that self-destruct thingy that Alter Ego was supposed to get rid of?” Toji asked while the hacker sighed and closed the laptop that had the AI installed on it, he then walked over to the graffiti artist and hit him in the shoulder lightly.

“Of course man, the self-destruct command was overridden when we were in the class trial!” Shoji replied and put the laptop in his bag, Toji gave a small sigh of relief and returned to looking at the door, both Minato and Celeste watched as everyone was starting to make small conversations with each other again to liven up the mood.

The Gambler felt something grab her hand, she looked down at her hand and noticed that Minato was holding it; she cleared her throat which signalled the Gamer to snap out of his revere and for him to turn his gaze towards her with a small look of confusion. “Huh, did I miss something?” he replied and with her free hand she pointed at their interlocked hands which the gamer quickly released her hand and felt his cheeks light up, “Oh er sorry ‘bout that… I didn’t squeeze when I was holding it right?”

Celeste shook her head and giggled while Matsu came up between them, he wrapped one arm around Minato’s shoulder and pulled his ear towards his mouth and whispered into Minato’s ear, “You should totally take her out on a date since you two are kind of a thing~” The Otaku mumbled as the Gamer only gave Matsu a disapproving look and managed to lock him into a headlock, Matsu was trying to break out of Minato’s iron grip the gamer was giving him noogies, “H-Hey stop it man, you are gonna mess up my hair!” Matsu shouted and Minato and Celeste started laughing at the failing Matsu.

Asuka, Shinji, Yukari and Akira were all watching from afar and also started to laugh at both Minato and Matsu, after a few moments of silence, Yukari sighed and looked at everyone else. “So what’re you are going to do the moment we get out of here?” She asked while both Asuka and Akira began to think about an answer.

“I’m planning on returning to the Dark Wings, and help out those who need help outside… I’m also planning on writing a book about what happened here for the world to remember what really transpired behind these walls.” Asuka replied and Yukari nodded at Asuka’s reply, she then turned to Akira who smiled and placed her fist in her palm.

“I’m going to continue my tattoo business, after all during a post-apocalyptic situation I’m sure people want some wicked modifications… but really, I’m going to search for my mother and little bro… I know that they are out there and I need to make sure that they are safe before I start anything else.” The Body Modifier replied as she wiped away a tear that started to form in her eye, the small group listened to her and they asked what the twins were going to do.

“We’re gonna continue the Morishige Dojo and even rebuild it from scratch, that’s what’s in our futures from here on out!”

Nearby, both Shinji and Toji were talking to each other, the two of them were making small talk when the topic of what they were going to do the moment they got out also got to them too. “I’m planning on continuing my hacking business, although I will use it to hunt down the remaining members of Super High School Level Despair and I’m going to join the Future Foundation to help them with any electronic problems that arise for them, how about you, Toji?”

The graffiti artist sighed and fixed his yellow toque, “Me, hmmm… I’m planning on tagging up some walls when we get out of here, I’m also considering opening my studio again for everyone to come and chill out when they are bored or stressed!”

On the other side of the room, Mitsuru was standing in the same spot where she was talking to Katsuya when this all started, she wasn’t talking to the others and was merely drowning in her own thoughts about what will lie ahead for her. “Can I really atone for what I’ve done while as a member of Super High School Level Despair…?” She muttered to herself as Kenji walked over to her and nodded, the heiress looked surprised and she even cracked out a tiny smile.

“Mitsuru… As long as you keep looking towards the future, you can atone for what you had done… you also have a long lifetime to do things such as helping with returning the world back to normal… Also didn’t you say that you were going to revive the Shishido Family?” The Lucky Student replied and the heiress nodded back, Kenji did have a point. She has a whole lifetime and a future waiting for her to atone for her sins as a member of Super High School Level Despair.

The heiress turned to the Lucky Student and asked what he was going to do since he was revealed to be the Gentleman Thief, The Phantom and Kenji only shrugged. “Honestly… If I can remember what I did as The Phantom I will do my best to use my ablities of being a thief to help those if I can… But I know it’ll take a while to for people to forget about it but… I’ll try my best to help even if no one wants me to help them.”

Mitsuru smiled at him and she turned to Meiko and asked the same question to her about what she was goign to do when they get out of there, “I… I honestly don’t know, I might join the Future Foundation because I want to help rebuild the world, I can pick up my title as Super High School Level Fashion Diva anytime when we are out of here.”

After everyone had finished talking, they all returned to look at the door, Kenji turned around to see if the others were ready he noticed that Minato was missing from the group, when he asked where he had gone, and Celeste replied with that he ran back to one of the classrooms on the first floor to grab something, the group was confused but they heard commotion and the gamer ran into the entrance hall carrying a desk.

Minato then placed it right in the middle of the entrance hall and grabbed the emergency button from Kenji, he flipped open the emergency button’s glass cover and placed it on the desk with his hand hovering over it, “Y’know… It wouldn’t be right if you hogged all the fun pushing this button!” Minato said as Kenji looked at him and gave him a small smile; Celeste nodded and placed her hand on top of Minato’s.

“I agree… We should all have the honor of pushing this button since its part of our new future.” The Gambler added, all the students agreed and following Celeste came Toji’s hand, then Shoji’s followed by, Asuka’s, Akira’s and both Shinji and Yukari also placed their hands on top of each other, Meiko smiled at the group as she started to tear up and also placed her hand on top of the pile, Mitsuru was hesitant as first but everyone reassured her that it was ok to join in too and she placed her hand on top while Matsu yelled out a victory cry while punching the air with his fist and placed his hand on top of the pile.

Kenji looked at his friends and felt tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes, the group saw this and they all asked if he was going to be alright but all that Kenji replied with was a simple yes and placed his hand on top of the pile along with the other’s hands.

“I suppose this is good-bye to everyone huh… But at least we can walk out of here knowing that we will be living on with them in memory.” Akira said as the others nodded in agreement, everyone was waiting for someone to press down but nobody could do it, that’s when both Minato and Matsu shouted:

“Alright, when we get out of here let’s have a small party at Toji’s studio; we’ll bring the food and anime!”

Kenji chuckled and shook his head at the otaku and the gamer, “We should plan a party later on, and I guess you can call it a graduation party after all this.”

The Lucky Student finally pushed the other hands down on the button and they all felt it press down, after that they all heard an alarm and a red light started flashing, the two wall mounted turrets retracted into the ceiling, the locks on the door released and the door pushed outwards, it started to crack open, streams of light was starting to pour in the darkened entrance hall, the group looked amazed as the sunlight hit their faces and the door started to finally open.

‘ _With this… Our futures have been laid out in front of us_ …’ Kenji thought to himself as he looked at all the other students who seemed fixated on the opening door, ‘ _Starting from here on out, as long as we have our future_ …’

‘ _We can all keep moving forward… Together_ …’ The Lucky Student added as he turned around and saw that both Minato and Celeste had started holding each other’s hands again, he felt someone tug at his own hand and noticed that Meiko grabbed onto his and smiled at him as the doors finally opened, all of them took a deep breath and took their first steps outside the academy.

As Class 79 left the academy, they started making their way towards some tents in the horizon, en route to said tents they heard someone shout, “There they are!” and a bunch of suited men and women started running towards them, Asuka, Yukari and Shinji got into a fighting stance, but the group all sighed with relief when the people introduced themselves as the Future Foundation and the suited people started asking them all sorts of questions regarding their health and if any of them were hurt, however one of the students wondered away from the group.

Minato Shirogane walked away from the group and for a moment he felt someone touch his hand and shoulders, turning around quickly he saw three blue outlines and they resembled his three friends, Hifumi, Katsuya and Kaori, the three figures all smiled at him and he shook his head before hearing Celeste call out his name and he turned his back on the figures, “Hifumi, Kaori… Katsuya… Thank you all for being there for me… I’ll keep on living for all of you guys… See ya around.” Minato muttered as he walked towards his fellow survivors and noticed that Kenji was talking to a brown haired boy who introduced himself to all of them.

“Hello there, my name is Makoto Naegi and I work with the Future Foundation and we would like you all to join us in our search for the remnants of Despair and the hunt for Jin Arisato.”

"...We'll join you man, we have some unfinished business with that fucker."

-Meanwhile-

A large figure was walking past a sign that read ‘Towa City docks’, he resembled a certain doujin author for the most part, although he was wearing a dirt and blood specked covered dress shirt with a black tie that was half undone, with black trousers too. On his upper body the boy was wearing two holsters under his arms; his eyes seemed closed giving off a ‘cute’ vibe. He also had short spiky black hair that looked a tad bit messy with a small ahoge popping up in the middle.

He was greeted by a group of people who all smiled at him, he gave them all a small smile back before handing a bunch of supply boxes to another boy who was standing on the deck of a large yacht, the large cat-faced boy looked over at a girl who was sitting on one of the docks towards the ocean, he walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

The girl was wearing a brown blazer with a white dress shirt under it, she was also wearing a skirt from Hope's Peak Academy, she had a Red tie on, her hair was a dark brown colour with her own ahoge popping up in the middle too.

She looked up at him and smiled, “Is everything ok, Alisha?” Asked the larger boy while she looked away and tossed a rock into the water.

“I 'm worrying about the other survivors that we saved by lowering that bridge… And those survivors that Minako told us about...” The girl named Alisha replied as the boy pulled her up from her sitting postion and smiled at her.

“Oi… I’m sure that those students got out ok, the Future Foundation was there to help them from what I heard… But I'm surprised you managed to survive the entire Tragedy without breaking and being by yourself since you were part of the failed transfer student program.” He said while the girl looked up at him and smiled, he then turned his gaze towards the boy who was standing on the deck, he was wearing a white dress shirt that was torn in some places with the sleeves rolled up, he wore simple black trousers and had a bright orange tie, to top it all off he is a chubby boy with black hair and a pointed ahoge that looked flattened. He had a pair of glasses that was inside of his breast pocket, he was as he started to help some of the group onto the boat, “Yo, Hajime Yamada ready the engines because we are leaving this city soon!”

The boy named Hajime Yamada looked down at the large boy and nodded, “Alright, Patrick James Lowell… Yo everyone it’s almost time for us to go, so get your asses on the boat!”

Alisha looked up at the boy called Patrick and smiled at him, “Where are we going again, Boss?” She asked, the boy sighed and looked out towards the ocean.

“We are going to Hope’s City… I’m happy that you all will accompany me back to the North American Branch of Hope’s Peak Academy.” The Boss replied as Hajime chuckled and looked over the railing of the boat.

“Well of course we wanna join you, we have nothing left on this side of the world so we are gonna jump ship with you and see what it’s like in Hope’s City!” Hajime replied as The Boss chuckled and poked Hajime on the forehead, the boy grumbled as the last of the small group all boarded the boat. The Boss then climbed up the ramp leading to the boat and looked down at Alisha who was still standing on the dock.

“Are you coming?” He asked the girl who looked up at him and nodded, The Boss held out his hand and she grabbed it just as Hajime and some of the others undid the tope keeping the boat tied down to the dock, Alisha smiled at The Boss as he walked over to the bow and looked out towards the destroyed buildings of Towa City, all of them looked at the city as the boat was slowly leaving the harbour and the city slowly disappeared from view.

The Boss then felt a cold wind blow in his direction as he looked over towards where, Hope’s City was  located across the ocean, an unnatural shiver went down his spine and he shook his head, Alisha noticed this and asked him what was wrong and he smiled and made his way towards the bridge.

“Everything is going to change from here on out… I have this feeling that everything is going to change when we get back to Hope’s City…” The Boss replied as Alisha looked at him and sat down on the bow of the boat, and she looked out towards the endless ocean as the sun was starting to set behind them.

Danganronpa: Infinite Despair Epilogue – Our new future begins… End.


End file.
